Where her loyalties lie
by SunriseSea
Summary: Moriko, an adopted girl from Konoha has questions. Many questions regarding her past. She comes back from three years of wandering in the world and is thrust between the equilibrium of her clan and the village she was brought up in.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. All Naruto characters and jutsus are a product of Masashi Kishimoto.

(PART I: Change)

_There were sounds of screaming and shouts. Blood was splattered all over the forest floor, on the trunks of trees, on the grass, everywhere. Sounds of animal snarlings, children crying, and then ... there was nothing. Nothing but the sounds of flames, snuffed in the wind. _

"Moriko! Get up!" There was a bang on the wooden door. At the sound of her foster mother's voice, the eight year old turned over and covered her head with her pillow. "I'm not going to call you a second time. If you don't get up before seven, you're not going to that ceremony you wanted to go to!"

The little girl sprang up and looked at the clock beside her bed – it was already six fifty. _Oh jeez._ She slid the door open while rushing out of it at the same time, running to the bathroom. She groomed herself in less than five minutes and was changed in another three.

Her mother smiled and patted her head as she placed eggs, bacon and a slice of toast onto her daughter's plate. It was six fifty-nine, she had just made it in time. Moriko's foster father was on the couch that was placed in the living room, flipping through the daily newspaper. He muttered to himself, "Why would some silly kid want to go to a ninja graduation ceremony? Peh! Being a ninja is just a waste of time." he raised his voice. "You hear that, kid? One day, you're going to be a lawyer or a teacher and show them who's higher in power!"

Moriko rolled her eyes and silently bit into her piece of toast. _Parents._

Although she had had her foster parents ever since she could remember, she knew that she was adopted when they told her, two years ago. Ever since then, she always wondered how her real parents would be like. How they would talk to her, how they would react if they saw that she was staying at home helping with the chores than out there, learning how to throw shruikans, learning techniques to protect their village leader – the Hokage.

"Moriko, dear, would you wash your dishes if you're done please?" Her mother's voice broke into her thoughts again, as often as they did.

The girl slid off of her chair, holding her plate and her finished glass cup of orange juice and put it into the sink, letting the water run. Routinely, she took the scrub off of the counter and absent-mindedly rubbed each dishware, still daydreaming.

The entrance to the red shinobi school building was already crowded with family members and relatives, all there to congratulate and welcome newly graduated shinobi into their families. Moriko envied all of them. No matter how well they could fight, or how well they could perform techniques, she envied them to the point where she could kill just to get into that school. At least, what's what half her mind told her. The other half wasn't so sure about the killing part. She watched as the crowd thinned and listened to the cheerfulness of the atmosphere until sundown.

Her keen observation spotted out a blonde-haired boy who was sitting on a swing, his back towards the small crowd. He had been sitting there since that morning and looked very dejected, so Moriko decided to head over. It was not often that she would approach someone. In fact, she usually kept to herself, but her conscience wouldn't let the sight just slip away.

She entered the shade of the tree and looked at the boy. Feeling slightly awkward, she asked, "What's your name?" Her voice was an alto.

The boy looked up at her with his blue eyes. "Uzumaki Naruto."

"What are you doing here all alone?"

He looked back down, mumbling, "I couldn't graduate."

Moriko was about to open her mouth to reply when her ears heard, "They shouldn't let him graduate that one."

Another agreed with the first voice. "Yeah. Imagine what the village would look like if they let someone like him become a shinobi."

She grit her teeth and then calmly replied. "At least you have a chance to learn. I'm not even allowed to go to this school."

Naruto looked up at her. "Why not?"

It was Moriko's turn to mumble. "My parents won't let me. They think being a shinobi is of low class. Anyhow, how can you just sit here and take insults like that?"

"What insults?" Naruto genuinely looked surprised.

"What those women were talking about over there!"

"What are you talking about? I didn't hear them. Are you just trying to cheer me up?" Naruto asked. He stood up from his swing.

Moriko looked at him fiercely. He was a head taller than her. "No. I'm not."she replied, dead serious. A man came out of the building and waved towards Naruto. "I'll see you later. Bye."

Moriko ran all the way home, not looking back to see whether or not Naruto's eyes followed her, nor see whether or not he caught up to his sensei.

_Why does everyone always think I'm lying when I know I'm telling the truth? I should just learn to keep my mouth shut. _The girl thought as she entered her house. She slid the door shut behind her and sat down before the laundry basket that was already laid out for her. Pondering, she began her chores.

It was late into the night when there was a knock on the door of Moriko's residence. Dinner had been finished, dishes had been washed and dried and the girl was lying on her bed, reading from a book she borrowed from the library. She heard her parent's door slide open and quickly determined that her dad was walking towards the door. The girl lay still for a moment, straining to hear the conversation, but to no avail – they seemed to have gone outside.

She tried to turn back to her book.

"_... chakra is energy that is collected from cells in the body. Jutsus, or the techniques of a ninja, whether illusion techniques (genjutsu), or ninja techniques (ninjutsu), a jutsu is completely formed by combining both chakra and spiritual energy together, which can be improved through practice and training. When spiritual energy and body energy are combined together (forming chakra, also known as the process of molding chakra), they can be released through hand seals or a series of hand seals. _

_Other than chakra, an important factor that plays when executing techniques is stamina, which is the ability to resist fatigue and tiredness. Both physical and mental endurance are needed in order to mold, develop and use chakra. Simply put, without stamina, there is no chakra..._

_Each technique..."_

Moriko's thoughts trailed off as her mind wandered off again. She closed her book, placed it onto the bedside table and sat up. Her thoughts were running wild. Was it a ninja who knocked at the door? Should she go after him and ask if he could train her? No ... that was asking too much. Perhaps if she only asked a couple of questions ... yeah. Maybe she could just go up to him and have him demonstrate a jutsu. Yeah!

The girl stood up, decision made and opened the door by her bed that led to a porch. She stuck her head outside and heard a faint whispering that came from the front of the house. Turning off her bedroom light, she walked soundlessly out of her room and closed the porch door until an inch of empty space remained.

Moriko walked to the back of the house and retrieved a long stick from underneath the porch. She stood on top of the railing that lined the porch and scraped the stick near the corner of the roof. A knotted string fell from the rooftop of the house. She placed the stick back where she found it and used the rope to climb onto the roof. Pulling the rope back onto the roof, she set it into a position where she would be able to find it again and then crawled over to the front side of the house. She could make out low voices now. Both were males.

"...Look. I've told you a thousand times already. We don't know!"

Moriko inched up a little bit. She'd never heard her father talk to someone that way. He looked stressed, though amusing in his white and green striped pajamas.

The other man had silver hair that grew upwards. His eyes were sharp, yet revealed nothing. A mask covered his face from nose down and his forehead protector (that is, a metal plate bearing the ninja's village symbol on a long blue piece of cloth) slid down to cover his left eye. His voice was quiet, but firm. "Alright then. We'll be keeping tabs on you. Expect another visit sometime soon."

Moriko's dad spat at his feet as the ninja walked away, hands in his pocket. The girl waited until her father went back inside and slid off the room, landing with a soft sound as she hit the grass. She sprinted towards the ninja.

A/N: Hey guys. Yeah. I'm not used to writing in chapters and I wrote this as one entire story, only I cut it into sections so I'm sorry if the ending of the chapter is really bad. Anyways. Reviews would be really really nice. I mean, REALLY nice. As well as CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. Or you can go ahead and straight criticise me. Doesn't matter. Thanks.


	2. Chapter 2

It was dark inside the forest. Absentmindedly, Moriko had followed the shinobi (ninja) into the heart of the forest without realizing where she was going. Stupidly, she realized that he had disappeared. Looking backwards from where she came from, she could no longer see the house she had left not too long ago. Moriko stopped for a moment to survey where she was.

The forest was a little creepy in the middle of the night. Vines hung low from trees, branches looked like hooked claws, everything looked sinister.

Moriko blinked a couple of times, rubbing her eyes. Though the canopy of leaves blocked any source of light from coming in, she could still see perfectly in the dark, something she hadn't noticed. Another thought struck her and she looked back to where she had run from. It should have been a long way as she'd never been this far into the forest before and she was hardly breathing quick.

Though physically she was different, her sense of insecurity was starting to rise. Doing her best to shut her ears to the faint whistling of wind, to the crunching of leaves as small animals scrambled over them, she closed her eyes, which made it worse.

"What are you doing here so late at night? Shouldn't a kid like you be sleeping inside their house?"

Moriko's eyes snapped open as the ninja she was following stood in front of her, leaning casually on a tree trunk. She nearly fell over in surrpise. "I-I mean ... Um... I didn't mean to bother you or anything. I-I-I..." Moriko looked downwards, annoyed at herself for her continuous stutters. She loosened her tongue and then continued. "I was just wondering if you could help me." Where'd those words come from? She was supposed to ask him if he could show her something that had to do with ninjutsu and chakra.

Before she could correct herself, the ninja opened his mouth to reply. "Help you on what?"

Moriko rubbed her right elbow nervously while chewing on her lip. "Um..well .. you see. My parents won't let me go to the Academy. And ... well, all I really want to do is learn ... from there..."

The ninja walked over to her and crouched down so that they were looking at each other eye to eye. "What's your name?"

"Umm...Moriko, sir."

The man smiled friendly-like. "No need to call me sir. I'm not that old."

"Oh. Sorry ... umm... what's your name?"

"Hatake Kakashi." he paused for a while. "So you want to learn how to become a ninja?"

As if that statement instantly evaporated the girl's insecurity, she nodded excitedly. "Can you teach me something now?"

Kakashi made his next statement very clear. "Becoming a Genin isn't something that can be done overnight. You'll need lots of practice and skill."

Moriko made no movement, but Kakashi knew that she understood. After thinking a while, he said, "Okay. We'll do one basic thing, alright?" Moriko didn't have to answer. Kakashi exhaled. It's been a long time since he'd taught someone skills this basic. "Alright. Stand up straight with your feet touching. Close your eyes and feel for two streams inside your body. One should feel calm and the other should be bubbly."

Moriko did as she was instructed and found them right away.

"Now, in your mind, visualize them connecting into one stream."

A purple flame shape engulfed the girl. Her face was illuminated and Kakashi could see that her face was very relaxed, unlike the usual pupils who had tightly concentrated faces. He was surprised at how fast she did that. _She's a natural ... _"You can open your eyes now, by the way." he said to her. He watched her face light up with excitement and pure joy. "That's your chakra."

"And then you do the hand seals to release it, right?" she asked him.

"Yeah. That's right."

"Can you show me something now?" there was an eagerness in her voice that Kakashi couldn't resist. He decided to show her a basic skill, but none that everyone knew, nonetheless.

It was a short series of hand seals, but an exact replica of Kakashi appeared beside him in a puff of white smoke.

Moriko looked at it curiously. "Clone jutsu?" she asked.

Kakashi released his technique and his clone disappeared. "You've heard of it?"

She rubbed the back of her head nervously. "I've stolen a couple of glances now and then at the Academy." She turned to herself and performed the hand seals. A replica of her appeared to her right. "Is it something like that?"

The Jounin (a rank of ninja) was surprised at the rate she was learning at. "Yeah. You use this technique when you want to replace yourself. But your clone doesn't have chakra, so for high level ninja who can determine whether or not one has chakra, you wouldn't want to use this."

Moriko nodded and released her technique as well as her chakra molding, so the purple flame surrounding her died down.

"You've got a natural knack for ninjutsu."

The girl blushed at the compliment, not used to being praised. She looked down, rubbing her elbow. "Oh... erm, thanks."

Kakashi was interested now and his newfound student seemed willing to absorb everything he presented to her.

A/N: Reviews please...?


	3. Chapter 3

"Mom! I'm going out!"

"Did you finish your chores?"

"Yes."

"Be home before dark!"

Moriko rolled her eyes as she headed out the door. "Yeah! I will." The girl ran outside, ignoring the blazing sun, inhaling the fresh air. The birds were chirping beautifully as the slight breeze moved the grass before her. The sky was a clear blue and no clouds could be seen.

The girl was so restless these days and always wanted to get out of the house. She ran towards the main part of Konoha, ignoring her dad's irritated shouts.

It had been nearly a year since Kakashi and her first met and he hadn't come back to their house since, though the two had been regularly meeting for lessons every night after her parents were asleep and Moriko was improving steadily in all areas of a ninja, though she wasn't qualified to be one as she didn't graduate from the Academy.

Ninjutsu was still her specialty and due to her ability to master any element, she could perform any jutsu (technique) possible. Nearly the first six months was spent on taijutsu (hand-to-hand combat) alone. At first, harming someone wasn't exactly something she could do off the top of her head. One, she was afraid of pain, two, she was told that it was not very nice to punch someone even if they punched you back, and three, she didn't have the physical strength to do so.

The first month of taijutsu was probably the worst month she had ever experienced in her life. She was forced to swim against a current that was impossible to swim against (and she nearly drowned in doing so) to get her body in shape. Then, the second month was dedicated to build her attack power. After those two long months, Kakashi began to teach her techniques, training her speed as well as her skill. Every morning, she would wake up with bruises all over her body, completed her daily chores, and used whatever time she had left to do more training, most often weaponry. Her daily routine went something like, "Get out of bed, do chores, rush out of the house before mom and dad could see her wounds clearly, go to the library, go to training ground, go home, dinner, shower, sleep, train, sleep." Through the six months of endless pain, the girl became numb to pain and slowly began to break the barriers of her fear. Taijutsu took the longest out of all three types of jutsu to learn.

Genjutsu (illiusionary techniques) was a little better, having only had to spent three months on it. During those three months, Moriko nearly experienced a mental breakdown, as genjutsu had to do with the mind and eyesight more than anything else. After those three months, she begged Kakashi to let her work on ninjutsu. By the time the three months had passed, Moriko was able to tell whether or not she was in a genjutsu as soon as she was caught in one and how to dispell it before being affected further. She had no particular interest in learning techniques for genjutsu.

The next two months was finally ninjutsu. It took twenty days for Moriko to nail down chakra control (the amount of chakra used in a technique. The less for one technique, the better), and chakra manipulation (changing the natural shape of chakra so that it 'fitted' your needs). For each technique, Kakashi only had to show his pupil the hand signs once before she could nail it down. Both control and manipulation came to her naturally, and therefore, made her a very quick learner at any ninjutsu placed in front of her, which made her a very formidable and deadly opponent. She was also very observant and analytical, though she did not know it herself, but she was more of a field agent than a strategist, though she was capable of being one.

Using all the basics that Kakashi had taught her during the past year, Moriko also managed to develop her own techniques using archives and information she discovered at the Konoha library, where she spent some of her free time. There was one element that Moriko particularily excelled at using, and that would be wind. With her extremely curious nature, Moriko managed to develop "Kazetasujin" or "wind mastery". Although the techniques she had developed were designed to take out opponents in one hit, her created techniques were confined to a diagram that took time to prepare in the midst of battle. The girl hadn't had time to actually test it out with Kakashi yet. Apart from her created techniques, Moriko also spent a lot of time with her second best friend – weapons.

She had taken a particular interest in using the kunai knife and the staff and after many tireless and painful nights, she had become a deadly user of both.

It was Moriko's birthday today and Kakashi had promised that he would do something with her. Moriko sprinted ecstatically towards a large oak tree that stood in front of Konoha's training grounds. Reaching through the roots, she retrieved her hip pouch and her pale-wooded staff as well as a dagger that she placed beside her hip pouch on her belt. The hip pouch was given to her by Kakashi and stored her shurikan as well as kunai. If she remembered correctly, there was also a coil of wire, but she never had to use it. The pouch neatly went on a spot on her left hip, beside her dagger. The pale creamy staff was carried on her back, as she was really too lazy to carry it around all the time. Both ends were rounded, but could easily function as a double-ended blade when she utilized her chakra into it. The height of the pole was nearly five inches taller than she was, and her height was that of an average nine year-old.

Equpping all her equipment in just a little over the blink of an eye, she leaned against the tree on her shoulder, closing her eyes, waiting for Kakashi and just knowing he would be late.

She was right. Her sensei came nearly half an hour later. Moriko nodded to him politely as a greeting and followed as he disappeared from her sight.

"So how was your mission?" Moriko asked as she leapt off a branch, no longer trembling in fear of falling down and cracking her head open.

Kakashi had been gone for nearly a week on a mission he had been assigned to. She hadn't missed a single day of training even so. "It was alright. Nothing special."

"That's not very descriptive. Did you meet anyone new? Anyone stronger than you? Did you learn any new techniques?" She was begging for him to teach her more. She had an uncanny thirst for knowledge.

Her sensei managed a laugh. "No. Sorry. Even if I did, I wouldn't have been able to teach you. It was a kekkei genkai (bloodline limit. Bloodline limits are abilities that are passed down through a clan or family by blood. Any members outside of the family wouldn't be able to learn it because they don't possess the same abilities as the clan does)."

"So you did learn something new. Which element was it?"

"Ice."

Moriko drifted into her own thoughts quietly, performing a somersault off a branch for fun. She remembered the first time Kakashi showed her a tree branch.

_Flashback._

_"Come on. You're not going to get hurt. It's easy. Just leap onto another branch." He had said, making it sound very easy. _

_Moriko was holding tightly onto the trunk of the tree, almost trembling in fear as she looked down. She gulped in reply. "Easy for you to say. You're not afraid of heights." _

_Kakashi sighed. "Okay, let's try __**walking **__onto another branch for now. How's that sound?" _

_"I dunno. How far is it off the ground?" _

_In addition to her taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu training, Kakashi also had to teach her the basics of a ninja – stealth, courage, merciless, strength, morality, honour, the abillity to show no emotion under any circumstance and the ability to overcome her fear. It took nearly the full year for her to literally jump off the branch without hesitation. Cliffs, poles, walls, and any other high places were also a problem and that was taken care of in the span of a year. Learning chakra control helped her security as well, since regulating a specific amount of chakra on her feet could allow her to walk vertically up and down any surface as well as on top of water. _

Kakashi caught her contemplative mood and was instantly reminded of a deer, how they always mind their own business while grazing, while staying alert at the same time. For some unknown reason, he was always reminded of **some **type of animal whenever Moriko was around. When she was playful, she was like an otter; when she was alert and observant, she was like a hawk; when she was eating, she seemed like a rabbit, quietly nibbling on her food; when she was all out offensive, she was a wolf, snarling ferociously; when she was defensive, a lion, looking out for weak spots; when she was stealthy, a cat, swiftly descending upon her prey, making no noise whatsoever.

"So where are you taking me anyways?" Her voice brought her back from his thoughts.

He smiled pleasantly through his mask. "You'll see. And by the way, if they ask any questions, just say that you're my sister."

Moriko wasn't going to ask who 'they' were. She was going to find out soon, so why ask?

"Kakashi sensei's late again. He's the one calling us out all the time, so he should be the first one here."

"Yeah! I agree!"

A pink haired girl, wearing a casual red Chinese dress with black shorts was leaning on the fence of a bridge that stood over a calm river. In front of her was her teammate, Uzumaki Naruto, the blonde-haired kid that Moriko met at the Ninja Academy last year when he couldn't graduate. He was wearing an orange fleeced jacket with a white collar, as well as matching orange pants.

To the girl's left was Uchiha Sasuke, cool and collected. With his cold attitude, spiky black hair and good looks, all the girls in the academy had the hots for him. Sadly, he was interested in no one.

All three of them wore blue ninja sandals that showed their toes and had shurikan holsters that were held by a string that was tied on the upper thigh. Their hip pouches didn't show, but all three wore the Konoha headplate proudly on their foreheads.

Sasuke looked up at the entrance of the bridge, where there was a shrine-like entrance. Kakashi appeared a second later, with Moriko beside him. Her sensei was crouching on the top pole while she stood beside him, surveying the three. They were three years older than her.

"Ohio (good morning). Today, I got lost on the path of life ..."

Naruto and Sakura flared. "You liar."

Their sensei jumped down to join them, Moriko following silently. Sasuke eyed her. He didn't hear her land and neither could he hear her breathe.

Naruto spotted her second. "Hey! You're that girl..."

Obviously he remembered his meeting with her. She waved hesitantly. "So you passed..."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Ehehe...yeah. I passed this year."

"Congratulations."

"Thanks."

Kakashi looked somewhat surprised. "Oh? You guys have already met?"

The blonde-haired boy looked up at him ecstatically. "Ah. We met last year at the graduation ceremony," he turned back towards the girl. "You never told me your name."

Kakashi did the introductions for her. "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, this is Moriko, friend of mine. She'll be joining you guys for today."

"Eh? What for?"

Naruto had too many questions. The two didn't answer him. Moriko didn't know the answer herself. She took a look at Sasuke, who was looking at her strangely, then at Naruto, who was chatting loudly with Kakashi, and lastly at Sakura, who was looking at her, then back at Sasuke, then back at her. Her expression held somewhat of a disdain. _Oh great. Not even five minutes with them and they already hate me. _Moriko sighed exasperately.

Kakashi seemed to know what she was thinking. He took control of the situation immediately. "So, everyone, follow me." He leapt up onto a series of shrine arches that followed the bridge. Moriko leapt up to join him without pausing and the others followed behind her.

Sakura seemed to have decided that Moriko was no competition with her for Sasuke. She came up beside her with a particularily long jump. "So, Moriko, how old are you?"

"Huh? Oh. I'm nine today ... how about you?"

"All three of us are twelve."

"Ohhh..." Sakura's friendly, she decided. Moriko wasn't in the mood to talk today, but around other people, she didn't have a choice whether or not to reply them.

Thankfully, there was no further conversation until they reached a widespread terrain. Towards the far left, there was some shrubbery, then stretched to become a forest. Where they had landed, the ground was grassy, with a few large patches of pale yellow gravel area, as far as the eye could see.

"Well, today is just combat practice," Kakashi began formally once they had all arrived. "We're going to practice in pairs while the other pair watches. Then we'll have some constructive criticism. Great. Sakura and Naruto, you go first."

Naruto protested immediately. "What?! I can't fight Sakura-chan! She's a girl."

Moriko was deeply offended, but the hurt didn't show on her face. She rolled her eyes as Kakashi replied, "If you don't get used to fighting people of another gender, what are you going to do when you have an opponent that wants to kill you, but is a female? Girls can become powerful ninjas too. Or is it just because you don't want Sakura to beat you up?" Kakashi knew how to press buttons.

Naruto clenched his fists and walked in front of Sakura. They were a good distance apart, not too close, not too far. The other three stood on the side to watch.

The two looked at each other fiercely for a while until Sakura threw kunai at her opponent, which he easily dodged. He barely had time to recover when he saw that Sakura was already running towards him. "Wha...?"

The blonde-haired boy flew backwards from the impact of Sakura's punch. He was dazed, though obviously not trying, when Sakura hit him again. There was a cloud of dust from the ground when Naruto hit the sand this time. He lay there, completely fazed.

"Well, I guess that's that." Kakashi said with a hint of cheerfulness.

Sasuke let out a contemptuous 'peh' at Naruto as he followed Kakashi. Sakura dragged her opponent onto the side as her sensei and her crush faced each other.

Moriko glanced swiftly at Naruto as he was dragged beside him. _He wasn't even trying... _Not even. His chakra level hadn't even been raised anytime during the short battle.

"Go Sasuke-kun!" cheered Sakura. She was very smitten with Sasuke, as most girls in her class were. The pink in her cheeks matched her hair.

Moriko blocked the cheering from her ears as she focused on the match. Sasuke must be pretty good to be matched up with Kakashi.

Sasuke faced Kakashi, who was standing with a hand on his hip, watching his opponent. _He's going to flip out his book, I know it. _But Kakashi did not. Did he intend to fight him all-out this time? Sasuke grinned to himself. Fine.

"Sharingan." The jet black eyes that Sasuke inherited turned red. Around the pupil, a comma-like mark (known as a tomoe) appeared.

Sasuke charged at him and sent a powerful leg swinging towards his opponent's arm, then turned himself around on the ground and swung his other leg towards his face. Both kicks were easily blocked, but Sasuke wasn't ready to give up. Flexibly, in the position he was in, he twisted himself and aimed for another punch right below Kakashi's knees. His fist was halfway through the movement when pushed off the ground and landed in a crouch several meters away. Kakashi stood up – he had wanted to elbow his opponent to the ground, but it was easily evaded. The Uchiha spat at the ground, giving a 'tssk' as he did. His mind worked furiously to try and find a loophole to his sensei.

Moriko had fought Kakashi many times before, not forgetting at all the pains she had endured before she could finally mark a scratch on him. Though the Uchiha was well grounded, there was no way he could defeat Kakashi anytime soon.

A/N: I apologize for the varying lengths of the chapters. Like I said, I just find spots to stop the chapter at since it's all one document. Pleeeease review ... it might just be worth like thirty seconds of your life.


	4. Chapter 4

"Let's give it a break, Sasuke." It was near late afternoon – the pair had been fighting for almost half an hour.

Sasuke rose from his stance and went off to find a water pump or a hose to wash his face. Naruto, who had woken up, began talking ecstatically with Sakura. Moriko joined her sensei friend.

"So what do you think?" he asked her when she was near. He was reading that perverted book of his.

She shrugged. "Not much. Sakura and Naruto are alright. But Sasuke has potential. Someone'll have to teach him to use his Sharingan, though." There was a pause filled in by the singing of a bird somewhere in the trees. "So why'd you want me here anyways?"

Kakashi snapped his book closed and shoved it back into his hip pouch. "We'll wait until Sasuke gets back, then you'll begin to do something."

It wasn't long before the Uchiha did come back, hair dripping wet from having Naruto shove his head underneath the pump. He looked ready to kill.

Kakashi noticed. "Where's Naruto?"

Sasuke shrugged. "So are we going to continue?" he asked, voice monotone.

"No. You're going to sit and watch while Moriko and I give a demonstration at what a real fight's supposed to look like."

Sasuke crossed his arms while Sakura sprung forward in protest. "Kakashi-sensei, you can't! She's nine and-"

"And you're twelve. Only three years older than her. What a difference that'll make."

Sakura fell silent. Kakashi didn't mean for the comment to be blunt. "Look, Sakura, there are just things in this world that you have to come to accept. Remember our last mission to the Land of Waves?"

The pink-haired girl nodded slowly and stepped back, understanding. She looked at Moriko. _Still, I can't just accept the fact that there are people in this world who are stronger than Kakashi while being nearly three times younger than him! _

"What's going on?" Naruto's voice entered the scene.

She turned around to see him dripping wet, walking towards them. Backing off slightly, she imposed the question, "What happened to you?"

The blonde-haired boy grumbled a reply. "Nothing."

Sakura turned back to the two friends who were facing each other. Moriko was scuffing the ground with her foot. "Moriko and Kakashi-sensei are about to have a practice match."

"Whoa, say what?"

No one bothered to repeat what she had said. Sasuke and Sakura both knew that he heard them. He followed their gaze and silently watched.

A/N: Sorry. Uber short chapter. p Reviews please.


	5. Chapter 5

_Finally. Some quiet. _Moriko wasn't used to all the constant talking. The only speech that was coversed between her training periods with Kakashi was only when he was teaching her, answering or asking questions. No small talk, just straight to the point. "Do we go all out?" she asked her opponent quietly.

"Sure."

"Then we're gonna need a whole lot more room." The girl disappeared from the place she was and Sasuke spotted her appear not a moment later several hundred meters away with Kakashi across from her. They could still make out who was who, but they were too far to see tiny details if any at all happened.

Sasuke walked closer without a word to survey the match. As soon as he stopped moving, Moriko began. Sasuke literally had to activate his Sharingan to even see her movements – they were too fast for the naked eye to see. One moment, the girl was in front of Kakashi, the next - above him, the next - to the side. Even with his Sharingan, he had to strain his eyes. He was just in time to see Moriko's combination of punches and kicks send Kakashi sliding a couple feet backwards, even though they were blocked. His sensei was smiling. Sasuke watched the girl's movements. _So this is what a high level fight is supposed to be like. That girl ... she could take me on anytime with not even half her effort. I bet she's not giving it her all in this fight either. _

Both ends of the field seemed to be taking turns to attack. After sliding back twice from recoil, Moriko took the pole from her back and pulled it into position beside her left hip. Purple chakra wrapped itself like a rope around the pole and ended at both ends, forming two sharp ends that resembled blades the length of half an arm. Even with the pole, Moriko's movements weren't affected at all. In fact, she looked as if she was floating through the air at an immensely high speed. Her pole danced through the air and there weren't any times when the weapon stopped in hesitation. Her chakra seemed to gleam with pleasure with having been molded.

Kakashi executed a back hand flip, avoiding the spear as it struck the place he was in not a moment before. Moriko spun it from hand to hand and, without warning, she pulled it sharply back into its position (beside her hip). As the pole was pulled back, a ferocious wind flew towards Kakashi. Sasuke covered his face with his arm and dropped onto the ground, doing his best to avoid getting blown away. The sensei dove towards the ground, somersaulting below the plate of wind and was forced to leap back up to avoid another wave of wind.

He jumped backwards as Moriko decided to give him a break. Using the time wisely, he formed a chain of hand seals and put his lips in between his index finger and thumb. "Katon: Karyu Endan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Missile)." Kakashi blew hard once. A ferocious dragon made completely out of red flames burst from his mouth towards the girl.

Moriko did some quick thinking. "Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu (water release: water dragon bullet technique)." Water dragon met the fire, causing a large cloud of steam to appear. Because Moriko's technique was able to conjure up not only one dragon, but several at once, Kakashi's side of the field was flooded in water as the remainder of the water dragons hit the ground. The water didn't flow to the rest of the forest, however, but was contained in a circle around the sensei as a circular cliff of earth rose up from the ground.

Sakura could see the battle from where she was. "Wow ... it started off with an amazing taijutsu fight and not even ten minutes after, it switched to a ninjutsu." _There's something not really right, though. She can use futon (wind), suiton (water) and douton (earth)?!_

Naruto was staring wide-eyed at Moriko, who was not breaking a sweat. Obviously, she had fought Kakashi many times before.

The Jounin stood up from his watery container – the water went up to his chest. Just as he was getting ready to spring out, an orb of thin water surrounded him. "What the-?"

Moriko gave a smile. She was standing in front and there was a clone holding the technique behind him. "Suirou no jutsu (hydro prison technique)."

Kakashi held up his hands in surrender. "Fine. You win."

Moriko released her technique and Kakashi got up from his crouch. The clone behind him vanished with a puff of white smoke. The earth walls around them slowly eroded, and the water flowed into the forest, leaving the ground considerably dampened.

A/N: I probably need to work on my descriptions for fights. Sorry if it was a boring read. Reviews please!!


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto bombarded the two as they walked back with Sasuke. "What happened?"

"Moriko won."

"What?!" Naruto sharply turned towards Sasuke. "Is that true? How'd she win?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I didn't see the end. You can ask her yourself." He glanced towards Moriko, who was scuffing at the ground again. Her clothes were dry, having summoned a wind to blowdry her clothes while they were walking back. The pole was now normal and hung from a sash that was worn across her chest. _She didn't even had to use shurikan or kunai to defeat Kakashi. What is she? _

Naruto was hovering all over the girl now. "So? So? So? What happened?"

Moriko waved him off, deciding that he was too close. "Kakashi lost. Nothing happened." she muttered, half annoyed.

"How'd you defeat him?"

Moriko looked pleadingly at Kakashi, who was watching the both of them in amusement. "Naruto. Moriko isn't used to talking so much, so cool it."

Naruto turned to his sensei. "Eh? Why not?"

"Just leave her alone." Sasuke pitched in, tired of hearing Naruto's voice.

Naruto looked back Moriko, who was gazing out at the reddening sky. All was still for a while until Kakashi got up from the rock he was sitting on. "Well. Guess our training is done for today. Oh yeah. Here," he held out three small rectangular sheets of paper.

"Eh? What's this?" Naruto asked, reading it over.

"It's your entrance pass to the Chuunin exam."

Sakura looked at her pass again, curious. "Chuunin exam...?"

Moriko looked at Kakashi. "Chuunin exam...?"

"That's right, I haven't at all explained what the ranks of a ninja are, have I?" Kakashi asked, rubbing his head apologetically.

Moriko twitched. "No, you haven't. Please do."

"Ninja academy students are those that are taught the basic jutsu skills. Once they have mastered the basic skills, they are able to graduate and become actual ninja. Genin is the rank for lowly ninja who have just graduated from the academy and are trained under a Jounin. They do missions such as daily chores and community work. Once they've completed eight succesful missions, they can be recommended for the Chuunin exam. Chuunin are the basic journeymen ninja of the village. They can become field doctors or teachers and are usually ranked as the equivalent rank of a military captain. Jounins, like Kakashi-sensei, are highly skilled in all jutsu skills and arts. They usually serve as squad commanders for mission operations. After that are Special Jounin, who have high Jounin-level skills in one area of ninja arts. Then there's the ANBU, who serve under the leadership of the Hokage. They're usually used for assassinations and missions requiring highly trained ninja. Last is the Kage, who-"

Naruto butted in. "Is the strongest ninja in the village!"

Sakura looked irratedly at Naruto, ticked off for being interrupted. "Yes, that. But they also rule the village and hold a lot of responsbility."

Moriko was quietly thinking. According to Sakura's explanation of the ranks, she would consider herself a Jounin or even a special jounin in the arts of ninjutsu. She'll ask Kakashi about it later. But her sensei seemed to know her iside out. "All three of them are Genin." he said shortly, smiling.

Moriko looked up at the sky – dark was settling in. "Snap. I should be heading home."

"Ah. You should be. See you later." Kakashi reminded her of their training later on tonight.

"Aww, you're leaving already?"

"Come back another time! I want to see your moves."

Sasuke gave her a nod as a goodbye, she returned it and said a quick, "I'll see what I can do. Jane (it's pronounced jan-neh)." And disappeared into thin air.

The Uchiha turned to Kakashi. "She hasn't got a headband. Is she not ranked?"

His sensei raised an eyebrow. "So you noticed."

"Noticed what?" Naruto asked, also wanting to know.

Kakashi ignored him. "Moriko never graduated from the academy. Heck, she never even attended."

"Oh yeah. She told me when we first met. Her parents wouldn't let her attend."

"Ah."

"So how did she get so good? And how did she use three elemtents of attacks? Isn't that impossible?" Sakura chimed in.

Kakashi held up his hands. "Well, she has a good teacher and, Sakura," he turned to her. "That's what I thought when I first saw her capability. But, it seems as if her ability is to control any element, giving her the reign of any technique possible."

"Who's her teacher?" Naruto asked.

His sensei shrugged. "You two should start heading home. The Chuunin exam is exactly in a week, so you should prepare yourselves and decide whether or not you want to attend. It's an individual decision, so make it yourselves. See you." and he left in a puff of white smoke.


	7. Chapter 7

The sky was black and starry when Moriko arrived at the front of her house. She only got as far as the beginning of the porch when she realized that something was wrong – the lights weren't on inside and no one was yelling._ Maybe they went out for dinner ... _After all, it was her birthday today, maybe for once, they went out for something special and would come back later. But then, if they went out for a birthday dinner, why didn't they tell her to go join them? It was **her **birthday.

Slowly, she walked up the stairs leading to the front door and turned the knob – the door was unlocked. She pushed it open and was immediately stopped in her tracks. The kitchen, which was directly across from the front door, was splattered with blood. Not only the cabinets, the countertop or the floor, but the walls were splattered with blood. She saw a hand outstretched from behind the counter of the kitchen and immediately recognized it as her mother's. Swallowing the lump that had lodged itself in her throat, she looked to her left, where the couch and coffee table were sitting. On top of the wooden coffee table was her father, leaning on it with his head in his arms. There was the slow dripping sound of blood. Then she smelled it – the raw smell of hatred and fear. It made her cringe on the inside.

Gathering up all her courage, she walked inside towards her father first. Through the darkness, she could see that he was covered in cuts and seemed as if he wanted to tell her that he didn't go down without a struggle. All her fear was gone when she saw that his hands were burnt. The seriousness of the damage that had been done hit her when she saw the far right wall where beautiful paintings and sketches used to be hung. Now the entire wall was burnt to the core. All that wasn't reduced to ashes was black and useless. _That's why his hands were burnt ... I never knew he could use katon. I never even knew he could use techniques. _She took her father off of the coffee table and laid him down face up, ignoring the blood that got onto her hands.

Dragging her feet, she walked over to her mother and gasped in disgust and horror – her mother's body looked as if it had been strangled over and over again. Her bottom torso had been stabbed multiple times and her legs were twisted and bloody. Upon seeing her body, Moriko dropped onto the ground and retched.

Kakashi knew something was wrong when his student didn't show up for training that night. In a matter of seconds he reached the front door of Moriko's house. He saw the sight inside and slowly walked through the door, inspecting the scene. He walked behind the counter, finding the mangled body of Moriko's mother and her father lying beside each other. He sensed the chakra of his student and found her inside the master room, lying on her parents' bed. Her cheeks were tear-stained. One hand was clutching the sheets while the other was holding something white. Kakashi walked in closer for a look and his eyes widened at what he saw – it was the mask of an ANBU. It seemed as if it had been carelessly left behind. Sighing, the Jounin picked up his student, wrestling the sheet out of her hand, and sped out of the house, aware that the ANBU would come back to obliterate everything there.

A/N: Honestly, reviews are needed for this and especially criticism. Pleeeasee..


	8. Chapter 8

The bright light caused Moriko to squint and blink several times before she could fully open her eyes. As her mind came out from its fuzzy state, she bolted upwards. Her eyes were dry – she had finished crying yesterday, but the tears couldn't express at all the great amount of sadness that she had. Sure, she wasn't that close to her parents, but they were still her parents. They had taken up the responsibility of adopting and raising her up with the right values and motives, though they were strict at times. They had clothed her, fed her and provided a roof and shelter for her for nine years, however long and short they seemed. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"You feeling alright?"

Kakashi's voice sounded throughout the small room. Moriko looked at him, half surprised, then half enraged. "What is it to you?"

"I had nothing to do-"

"You should've known that it would happen. You were the one that talked to them first."

"That was my assignment. I ddin't know what they would do with the information. You know full well that when assignments are given out, you don't have a choice but to follow them."

Moriko grit her teeth. She knew it wasn't his fault. She just couldn't help the fact that her parents were gone and he just happened to be the ninja who contacted them first. "What did you talk to them about the first night I saw you?"

Kakashi bowed his head, sighing. "Do I really have to tell you?"

One look at Moriko's face answered his question.

He held up his hands. "Okay, okay. It was more or less about Orochimaru."

"Orochimaru...?"

He shook his head. "Nevermind. If I explain it to you now, you won't understand."

"Kkk..." Moriko looked at the ANBU mask in her left hand. She thrust it into Kakashi's face. "This. Who's ANBU mask is this?"

He looked at her seriously. "I don't know. The ANBU change quickly. It's not possible for me to not even know the guy who's working in the ANBU now. And even if one member in the ANBU was killed, no one but the ANBU themselves would know."

Moriko grolwed lowly. She got out of the bed, walked straight past Kakashi and out the door, shouting back, "I'm going for a walk."

She needed a breath of fresh air. She was surprised. It was early in the morning when she got out the door. Wanting to go somewhere where not many people would go to, she entered the early streets of Konoha and found a small building. It was tall and shaggy looking. Hopping easily up the wall, Moriko sat down in front of a bench, leaning on it and watched the clouds move by, enjoying the silence and the sound of larks.


	9. Chapter 9

"Who're you?"

Moriko opened her eyes. It was high noon – she'd been sitting in front of the bench since morning and had not been disturbed. Until now.

The boy who asked the question was about the same age as Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. He wore his black hair back in a ponytail and wore a blue-gray jacket that stopped at his chest. Underneath the jacket was a netted gray shirt that was bordered with a green fabric. On both sleeves of his jacket was a cricle with a line running through it. The boy wore black pants with the usual blue shurikan holster that was tied on the upper thigh, with matching blue ninja sandals. His Konoha headband was stitched onto his left jacket sleeve and both his ears were pierced. He had a composed air about him.

The girl closed her eyes again after observing. "Moriko. What's your name?"

"Nara Shikamaru." He sat down on the bench behind her and looked up at the blue sky. "You come here often?" His voice reminded her of Kakashi – it was the same bored tone with little expression.

"No."

There was silence for a while before he sighed and lay down across the bench. He folded his hands behind his head. "Life is so troublesome. I wish I was a cloud. Carefree, without a worry about where i'll go or what i'll do. Just lay back and let the wind take me wherever it wants to."

Moriko gave him a sideways glance. _If only life were that easy. _

Shikamaru looked at her. "You look troubled."

The girl turned her head away. Was she that easy to read? "How would you know?"

He shrugged. "I don't. It's just something in your eyes, and the way you've been clenching your fists as if you want to punch a hole into something," he paused. "It's not me, is it?"

Moriko grinned. "Don't worry." She was starting to like this guy. She looked down at her fists and unclenched them. Her hands were bloody from her fingernails digging so deep into her palms. She hadn't even realized it until he told her.

"So are you going to take the Chuunin exam?" she asked after a while.

He turned to her. "What makes you ask that?"

"You're about the same age as some others I know and you're a ninja. It's just a wild guess, but you look as if you're pretty capable of some things."

"What are you? A mind-reader?" Moriko chuckled to herself. "But yeah, I am going to take the exam."

"Shouldn't you be training?" she asked. She bet her life that the other three were.

Shikamaru looked back up at the clouds. "Nah. Training's too troublesome. Besides, Asuma-sensei's not going to teach us any new techniques since my group is more individual than team orientated. But our teamwork isn't half that bad since we've known each other from when we were little."

"So, in other words, you're just lazy."

"You could say that."

They sat with each other, none of them wanting to say anything more.

Moriko planned to head back to her house this afternoon to gather some things. She wasn't going to live there anymore, so she'd have to find her own place. She'd figure all that out later, but she wanted a proper burial for her parents. She stood up and Shikamaru opened his eyes.

"You leaving?" he asked.

"Ah. There's something I have to do. I'll see you around."

"Sure. Maybe we can talk more over a game of Shogi."

"I don't know what that is, but sure. Jana (same as 'jane')."

A/N: Sorry about the japanese translations. My friend, whom I often use a guniea pig for my stories doesn't really understand some of the language, so I usually have to translate it for her. Same with all the descriptions of techniques and chakra. Bear with me. :) Reviews please.


	10. Chapter 10

Moriko grabbed a small bag that closed when you pulled the two ends of rope that went over each shoulder. She grabbed the picture frame of her family that was beside her bed, notebooks, pens, a couple of tshirts, shorts, and a pair of black gomushin (similar to those chinese traditional shoes that cover all your toes, but leaves the middle of your foot bare; slip ons). She ripped a deep green cloak off of her coathanger and slipped it on. Putting her bag on, shewent into the kitchen for her parents when she found that they were gone. The blood on the floor was still there, a dark crimson and Moriko looked away as soon as her head filled with vivid images from the night before.

On the kitchen countertop, there was an envelope.

Curious, she opened it and recognized Kakashi's scrawl.

_Hey Moriko. I know you'll find this when you get back and that you might be somewhat upset about your parents being gone. Don't worry. You were so tired last night, I buried them after you got home. You might want to pay them a visit, so if you do, you'll find the mark at the red gates. Burn this after you read it and get out of the house as soon as possible. ANBU will come back to burn the place to the ground to get rid of any evidence. _

_Keep safe. H.K_

Moriko crumpled the letter and burned it in her hands. She blew the ashes away and smiled inwardly. _Thanks Kakashi. _She dashed out the door to find herself staring straight into the face of four ANBU members. Her brain recognized who they were in a split second and she let out a ferocious growl. She felt a strange rage, a strange sense of protectiveness, of justice that overwhelmed her thoughts and mind. As she succumbed to all the new feelings, purple chakra leaked out and formed the frame of a wolf around her. Her tail was nearly a half times longer than her body. Moriko went down on all fours and snarled. The smell of raw, wild, untamed chakra reached the ANBU's noses and they stiffened.

The chakra that enveloped Moriko was becoming thicker – only her eyes remained visible, and they were turning into a topaz colour. The chakra caused her hands to look like paws, her nose to look like a muzzle, her skin to look like fur. And she was nearly as big as a polar bear.

The ANBU came all at once. Snarling, she met them head-on. Their katanas couldn't pierce through her thick chakra layer and, on physical contact, the result was a serious burn. Sharp teeth and claws were the only weapons Moriko had, but they were more than enough. None of the ANBU were quick enough to perform a technique that could eliminate a chakra-coated person.

_My parents didn't deserve to die! They were normal people and they had their own lives! Teme ... and now you want to obliterate them off the face of the earth and pretend that they never existed! Fat chance that'll happen! All of you ... work for the Hokage! You're supposed to work for the good of the village! Care about what others think and feel for once instead of just mindlessly following orders! _

The last thing those four ANBU members ever heard were the enraged snarls of the flamed wolf, and those thoughts ringing through their heads.

A/N: I'm begging like nuts. Reviews!!


	11. Chapter 11

"Kakashi!"

The silver-haired Jounin turned around to face his friend – Sarutobi Asuma, the sensei for Shikamaru's squad. "What is it?"

"Four ANBU members were killed yesterday on the outskirts on Konoha. I've been assigned to take you with me to investigate."

Kakashi closed the book he was reading and got off the lounge couch – he was about to hand in a report to the Hokage. Guess that'll have to wait. "Let's go."

They arrived fifty meters away from Moriko's house and began to walk closer. Nothing seemed to have changed or destroyed the landscape in any way. The only difference about the scene at present and the scene yesterday was that four ANBU members were lying on the ground.

Asuma bent down to examine a print – it was the small handprint of a girl overlapped with the large paw of a wolf. The handprint was a lot more visible than the pawprint. "Whatever killed these four is only part human." He breathed out smoke from his cigarette. He was the only Jounin that smoked.

Kakashi didn't say a word – he knew exactly who had killed the four ANBU."Can you smell that?"

Asuma stood up and sniffed lightly. "Yeah. I've never smelt this kind of chakra before. It's similar to the Kyuubi's (nine-tailed fox demon) ... but it doesn't have that suppressing feeling of evil." He walked over to the ANBU and examined their bodies. All their clothes were burnt and singed. The chest of several and the neck of several were torn horribly. "They were burnt, but they died from clawmarks."

"It's definitely not the Kyuubi. The house would've been destroyed if it was." Kakashi stated. And Naruto had nothing to do with this (Naruto is a Jinchuuriki, a person who has a Bijuu (a tailed demon) sealed inside of them. Bijuu are extremely dangerous spirits and are ranked by the number of tails that it possesses starting from one till nine. The only way they can be contained is by sealing them into human bodies. Naruto holds the Kyuubi inside of him).

Kakashi felt his six sense go off. Instinctively, he yelled a warning to his friend. "Asuma!"

The cigarette fell out of the sensei's mouth as he leapt back to avoid a bat of Moriko's tail. She was still in her wolf form and was confused at why Kakashi brought someone here, to her house.

"Moriko, calm down, he's not here to hurt you and I didn't bring him." Kakashi said, walking over to the wolf.

She stopped her raged trembling as he got closer and looked at him. He really did know her inside out.

Asuma yelled from his plae. "Kakashi, you know that thing?"

Moriko snapped her jaws at him, causing him to give a chuckle. She looked back at Kakashi, who was staring into her eyes. "Are you calm enough yet?"

The wolf gave a nod and allowed her outline to dissolve away, showing her human form. She stood up from her four legged position, hearing Asuma mumble in surprise. "Better."

"Why'd you come back?"

"I figured someone would come and investigate. Since you were the first person to ask for information, you should be here concerning the investigation of the kill."

"Did you want to tell me something?"

Moriko turned away. "Ah. I'm leaving."

Kakashi's eyes widened, then returned to their normal state, though filled with compassion. "I see."

"You don't have anything else to say to me but that?"

Her friend raised an eyebrow. "What more was I supposed to say?"

Moriko faced him, grinning. "I don't know. I thought you'd hand me in for killing the ANBU."

"Like I'd do that, then you'd kill me."

The girl laughed softly. "No, I wouldn't have. Just left you wounded enough for you to survive, and then leave," She smiled broadly. "Just kidding. Thanks for everything."

Kakashi realized how much he loved her. It was as if he was his own daughter. "My pleasure. Are you leaving now?"

She nodded. "I'm going to go say some goodbyes and then leave. Don't expect me anytime soon. It'll be a while before I come back. But when I do," she grinned. "Let's have another practice match."

"Anytime." he smiled back.

"Jane." And she disappeared.

Kakashi stood where he was, looking out over to the forest. Asuma walked up from behind. "So who was that? You guys looked as if you had a lot to say."

"A friend."

"A friend? Your face is telling me she's more than friend."

"She's nine years old! But she could be my daughter." he shrugged.

Asuma lit another cigarette. "Really now ... ? That's interesting. She's nine, you say? Must've been pretty good to destroy those ANBU."

"You have no idea."

"When will you come back?"

"I don't know yet. When I'm ready, I guess. I'll tell you about it someday."

Shikamaru was lying down on the bench, looking up against. Moriko was standing behind him, pole and pouches equipped along with her bag.

She shouldered her bag and made to leave. "Right. I'll see you later then. Good luck in the Chuunin exam."

"Ah. Thanks."

Her goodbye with Sasuke was not as talkative. He was in the middle of his training, stopping only to listen to what she had to say. "Right, if that's all, I'll just go back to my training."

"Good luck with your exam. See ya."

"Wait. Before you go."

Moriko turned around to face him.

"Can you show me a technique?"

She smiled. "We'll need a lot more space than this, but I guess I'll try and compress it. Hang on." She bent down and drew a small circle with three wavy lines in it on the ground. Then holding one of her hands with her middle and index facing upwards in front of her face. She put the other hand on the diagram and glowed purple. A larger diagram drew itself in front of them.

Moriko stood up. "This is an original technique. It'll work so stay out of the diagram. It's also a lot smaller. The original diagram is supposed to be thirty meters in circumference, but this'll serve our purposes," she looked at Sasuke. "You want to do the honours and throw something inside. Preferably something big enough so you'll be able to see what happens to it."

A scroll was decided to be thrown in. "Okay. On the count of three throw it high into the the air."

The count was given and the scroll was tossed. Moriko performed three very simple hand signs with her eyes closed. Though simple, the mental task took a lot of concentration. "Kazetasujin: ketatamashii senbon chi (wind mastery: a thousand piercing needles)." An orb of wind blew inside the diagram. Sasuke had his Sharingan activated, and he could see thousands of senbon (needles that are thicker and longer than sewing needles), but he couldn't tell which went where. The scroll was still in one piece.

The gust subsided when the scroll hit the ground, exploding into tiny pieces of paper.

Moriko released her technique and erased the smaller diagram she drewf first, cuasing the big one to disappear. "I'll see you later."

The girl appeared outside the gates of Konoha and discovered Kakashi's grave mark. She made a pitstop at the grave.

"Hey mom, hey dad. How're you doing?" A lump formed in her throat and she swallowed it. She continued talking softly. "I'm leaving Konoha. There are too many things for a nine year old to handle. I'm going to go see the world and learn more and become more powerful. I wish you'd be there to see me when I come back... I'll miss you guys. Thanks for everything. I'm pretty sure the last nine years haven't been very easy on you two, but thanks for sticking with me and making me the person I am today," she smiled tearfully. "Da, you lied to me. You said being a ninja was a waste of time, and that only wanted me to become a nin even more. You could've taught me so much. Why'd you give up your old life? Was it because of me? And mother, you too. Why'd you two give up your lives? What did you do that made the ANBU come? There are so many things I want to know." she sighed and stepped back, bowing after a silence. "See you when I get back. Rest peacefully."

Moriko looked out at the dusted road. It'll be a long journey ahead of her. She sighed again, as if the sigh could let everything that had happened behind. For the first time in her life, she felt as if the caged door in her life had just begun to open.

END OF PART I

A/N: Working on part two. :) please ... reviews. Thank you if you've been reviewing. :)


	12. Chapter 12

(PART II: Freedom)

Long black hair flowed with the wind as Moriko stood at the top of the hill. Once she reached the bottom, there was another path to follow and she'd be back in her hometown – Konoha. Filled with anxiety and apprehension, the twelve year old girl fingered the staff that she wore across her back and headed down the hill.

Moriko had been wandering alone for three years through villages deserts, mountains, and forests. She didn't know what to expect from her friends once she got back. Would they still remember her? Did they hear about the incident from Kakashi three years ago? Would they hate her? Would they want to kill her?

She shook to clear her head, everything will work itself out. If it doesn't, she'd leave. Simple as that. Hopefully.

"Kakashi-sensei. Come on, you owe me!"

Naruto, who was now fifteen, much taller, and wearing a new suit, was doing his best to push Kakashi towards Ichiraku's Ramen shop. His sensei, who hadn't changed whatsoever, was reading his new green covered novel, not at all affected by the shoving of his comrade. He flipped his book shut and stored it back into his hip pouch as he spotted a small squadron of ANBU heading towards Konoha's red gates.

"Kakashi-sensei...?" Naruto asked, stopping his tugging.

His squadron leader didn't reply, only jumped onto the roof of the nearest building and followed the ANBU. Though surprised and somewhat puzzled, Naruto followed speedily behind him.

Shikamaru and Asuma were running on top of a rusted roof heading towards the same direction. They too had seen the ANBU move. It was not always that ANBU were spotted out in the open.

Shikamaru had also grown, and was now sporting a green Chuunin vest that he had obtained at the end of the Chuunin exam three years ago. There was only one thing he thought as he headed towards the red gates. _She's back._

Moriko stood in the center of the surrounding ANBU. Katanas were drawn and steadily held towards the neck of the girl. Despite the obvious threat, she did not waver nor move, but merely looked at the brown roofed building in front of her where Kakashi, Naruto, Asuma and Shikamaru had appeared, all kneeling, waiting to see what happened next. She turned around to face the cat-masked ANBU, who was standing slightly ahead of the others. The tip of his katana touched the surface of her throat as she moved.

"You are not welcome in Konoha. Turn your back on this village and leave." It was a bass voice that sounded from behind the mask.

Moriko blinked wearily. She wasn't going to say anything ... she wasn't going to say anything ...

The katana dug deeper into her throat, drawing a single drop of blood.

"Why?"

The cat-masked man turned his head slightly to the new voice, as did Moriko.

It was Naruto.

The girl was surprised at how much he had changed over three years. He looked more like a man than ever.

The ANBU spoke to him, voice emotionless, yet there was a hint of warning. "Uzumaki Naruto, this has nothing to do with you."

Naruto's face darkened. "Why isn't she welcome? She hasnt been here in three years!"

Moriko was inwardly surprised. _Why does he stand up for me? Doesn't he know what I did here? _

"Time does not wash crimes clean from a slate."

The fifteen year-old boy opened his mouth to retort when he was cut short. "Naruto," his eyes turned to Moriko, who's voice had matured slightly over the time skip. "Cut it out. I'll leave."

"B-"

"Naruto." Her friend's voice stopped his protest and caught something as a small object flew towards his hand. "Give it to Sasuke," Moriko turned back to the ANBU. "I guess this is how guests are welcomed at Konoha," her eyes hardened. "I guess being just isn't something that everyone can understand."

A breeze followed her statement and everyone present found themselves staring into thin air. The ANBU sheathed their katanas and left without another word, leaving the air with a tensed silence. Naruto was still looking at the spot Moriko had disappeared from. He blinked, the conversation running through his mind over and looked at the small object that she had thrown at him – it was a dogtag necklace with the Uchiha clan sign engraved on one side. On the other was a variation of the Sharingan. His fist clenched hard around it, the string of the necklace trailing past his hand. His head was bowed toward the ground in sorrow and frustration. _Sasuke...! _


	13. Chapter 13

Moriko stood in front of a barren patch of land – the patch of land where she had lived the first nine years of her life. She had no tears to shed – three hard years had toughtened and crushed the tenderness inside of her.

The twelve year old felt a hand on her shoulder and, instinctively pulled both her elbows back so that her fists were at her hips. Hearing a surprised gasp, she turned around to see Shikamaru kneeling on the rocky ground, clutching his diaphram.

He gave a cough while rubbing it slowly, wincing. "You've got fast reactions."

Moriko didn't reply, face emotionless. She didn't know what to say. They hadn't seen each other in three years. She had left after killing four ANBU members of THEIR village. Didn't he have anything else to say? Didn't he want to punch her back?

"It's great seeing you again, you know." He said after a short silence.

The girl nodded politely and looked back at the patch of brown amist the lush green grass. "It's good to be back."

"I thought you were going to leave."

She heard a smirk somewhere in that comment and turned around. "I'll leave if you really want me to. I don't want to cause any more-"

Shikamaru raised his hand. "That's not what I meant."

_So he wants me to stay...? Is he nuts? After what I did?! _

Her friend answered her question, seeing her look. "You're probably thinking that all of us hate you for killing the four ANBU," Moriko recoiled as if she had been physically slapped. "But we don't. You're not the type of person that would just run around and kill people."

"What do you know about what happened three years ago?" Moriko asked quietly.

Shikamaru shrugged carelessly and put his hands behind his head. "Asuma-sensei didn't give all the details, but judging from what he said, I think you had a good reason to attack them. I would've done it if I were in your position, though I would've been cut up into pieces." He took his gaze off the cloud that was floating above his head and looked at the girl. "Anyhow, it's a little too troublesome to know too much."

Moriko repeated everything that he said several times in her head, unbelieving. So he found out and then he just forgave her just like that? He thought what she did was right? What? Nothing made sense. You don't forgive people when they kill people from your village and you don't just forgive people when you hear shallow facts about the situation. The girl opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. He wouldn't listen to her entire explanation anyhow – he'd probably fall asleep. _But I don't think I could trouble him any further. He looks so peaceful just staring at the clouds. _"So," Shikamaru looked back at her. "Does anyone ... hate me ... whatsoever?"

He took his hands off his head and shook it exasperately. "Yadayadayada. You weren't listening, were you? I told you. We know you wouldn't kill them for no apparent reason. Of course we don't hate you. Just a side note, though, the ANBU probably does. Then again, who doesn't hate the ANBU?" He added thoughtfully.

Moriko had to smile. This was the Shikamaru she knew. Despite their short time together, the two of them had clicked really well. When she had been wandering, the girl didn't mind being alone. There was so much that she could be preoccupied with – the nature around her, training, other people. She didn't know how much growing up in one village could limit her knowledge. But now that she was back, she realized that she had been missing something in her time of journeying – companionship. When she said that she was glad to be back, she meant it. And she was glad that her friends, who were so full of grace, still wanted her back.

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

"You've improved a lot."

Moriko wiped sweat from her brow, taking her stance again. "So have you."

Kakashi gave a small chuckle as he pulled his head protector up, revealing the Sharingan that was in place of his left eye.

His old pupil tilted her head. It had been a long time since she had seen that used in a practice match. Would she show him what she had discovered over the three years she was away? There really was no time to think as she was forced to avoid a barrage of shurikan. As she backflipped, she spun herself around on the brown patch of barren land to face her opponent, having learned early to never lose sight of them.

"Douton: Doryuu Taiga (Earth flow river)."

Moriko had jumped a considerable distance away from her enemy, giving her some space. However, the enormity of the mud river was undeniable - as wide as half a football field and as tall as a skyscraper. _What the heck?! _Her hands flew sign after sign in a blur. "Hyouton: Souryuu Boufuusetsu (twin dragon blizzard)." Two large ice dragons rose up from behind the girl and sprang towards the coming wave. On impact, it completely froze the river and covered it with a beautiful light blue cover of thick ice. Without waiting, Moriko leapt on top of the frozen-wave, pulling out her staff and utilizing both ends to the sharp tips of a spear with her chakra. She lunged.

Kakashi blocked a blurred attack with his kunai (the knife-like weapon that has a hole at the end; it can also be used as a projectile) and slashed at his opponent with his other knife, only to miss as the girl jumped back, dragging the stick on the ground. She replaced it back onto its neutral position on her back and went down on all fours, all in one graceful movement.

Kakashi's eyes widened as he recognized the stance. Though, three years ago, it wasn't a stance, but a forced transformation. _She learned to use it as a fighting advantage? How much as this girl improved? _

The sensei never got to find out, however, as their fight was interrupted by Naruto, who was running towards them, waving happily. Kakashi pulled his protector down to cover his triple-tomoe Sharingan as Moriko got back onto her feet.

_"_Kakashi-sensei! Moriko!" He halted in front of them, stopping for a second to catch a breather. Then he looked up, completely rejuvenated. "Chouji is hosting a barbeque tonight. He wants to know if you guys would like to come." It was then that he noticed the frozen river of ice behind them. "Uh ... Kakashi-sensei, what's that?" He pointed suspiciously.

The Jounin coughed into his fist, ignoring his question. "Chouji?" Usually, Chouji was the one who asked others to host a barbeque, not be the host.

"Ah."

Moriko looked up at the Jounin. "Who's Chouji?"

Kakashi was in thought, looking down at the ground with his head in his hand. "Hmm...okay. Tell him we'll both come."

"Great," Naruto turned to Moriko, still suspicious and somewhat disappointed to have missed another great practice match. "You can come with me now. I'll introduce you to some of my other friends."

The girl shrugged, not caring as long as others don't bring up 'the incident'. She turned to Kakashi. "I'll see you around, then."


	14. Chapter 14

Moriko was overwhelmed when she saw more than two groups of two training on the vast green pasture. Naruto and her stood on top of a hill that overlooked all of his friends and he began briefly introducing them one by one.

Starting with the threesome on the far right, he began. "The one wearing the white robe with his unnaturally long black hair is Hyuuga Neji. He's a Jounin. Tenten, the girl with the weird buns on her head, and Fuzzy-Brows over there are both Chuunin."

He pointed to the threesome in the center, who were casually standing. "That's Temari, the one with the fan. The one with red hair is Gaara. Believe it or not, he's the Kazekage. And the funny face-painted guy is Kankurou. Temari and Kankurou are Jounin. They're all siblings from the Sand."

"The Sand?" Moriko had been to the wind and sand covered village, but she didn't expect some of their nin to be in Konoha. The law states that, although the two villages are allies, nin cannot dwell in the ally's village.

"Yeah. Temari's the liason between the Sand and the Leaf. With Shikamaru, the two of them plan the Chuunin exams." Naruto briefly explained, all this talking not bothering him at all. "Anyways, oh. That's Ino, Hinata and Kiba." he looked around the pasture. "Looks like Shikamaru and Chouji aren't here. Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru are one squad while Hinata, Kiba and Shino are another. Looks like Shino isn't here either." he added after another quick search.

_There is no way I can remember all these people. _Moriko thought. She wanted to go back to where Kakashi was. She missed talking to him about everything and besides, it was a lot more comfortable when the group members were limited. Here, there were too many people, too many eyes staring ... too many questions and judgements.

"Naruto-kun!"

The blonde-haired boy and his friend snapped their heads towards the voice of Lee, or Fuzzy-brows. He was wearing a green spandex, with orange leg warmers. Luckily, he was also wearing a Chuunin vest, so he didn't look as abnormal as he would have. Moriko looked closer at his face and instantly realized why Naruto called him "Fuzzy-brows" - Lee's eyebrows were strangely thick. Add that with his large round eyes, it was a rather weird combination.

"Hey Fuzzy-brows!"

"Who's that?" He pointed a finger at Moriko. His other hand was placed beside his mouth, projecting his loud voice even more.

"My friend!"

"Why don't you bring her down so we can say hi?"

"Sure."

Moriko had literally jammed her fingers into her ears to soften their loud voices. _For goodness sake, it only takes you around fifteen seconds to get down there, why can't you just walk down there and tell him yourself?! _Before she had time to complain any further in her mind, Naruto was dragging her down the hill towards the threesome. Neji and Tenten both stopped what they were doing to see the girl clawing at her friend, trying to get him to let go of her.

"I could've said hi from up there." she muttered to herself when Naruto finally let go. Her tongue stood still as Lee thrust out his hand, signaling for her to shake it.

He was smiling widely. "Hi. I'm Rock Lee, Konoha's blue beast."

She ignored the hand, but nodded politely, stone-faced. "Moriko. Nice to meet you."Was she?

Tenten was also quite friendly, though she had the sense to not raise her hand in greeting. "I'm Tenten, and this is Neji." she motioned to the teenager standing beside her. He returned her nod politely as well, though said nothing.

"Where are you from?" Lee's voice was a tenor and filled with cheer.

Moriko had measured her distance cautiously and decided it was alright to speak. "I'm more of a wanderer, but I lived most of my life in Konoha."

"I haven't seen you around much." Tenten said, curious.

Naruto saved her from agony. "She came back yesterday. She hasn't been here in three years and she left before the Chuunin exams started."

"Oh..."

Lee was always the welcoming one. "Do you want to join us in our training, Moriko?" he asked.

"Er ..."

"Sure!"

The girl almost punched Naruto in the face.

"Lee...I'm not sure this is a good idea. She's only a kid..." she heard Tenten mutter to her teammate.

"I know, but look at her, all dressed up and everything. We should give her a chance. She looks like she has the Spirit of Youth!"

Moriko rolled her eyes, sliding her staff off her back. "Alright, what do you want me to do?" She asked. It got on her nerves when people took her for granted. Apart from her question, the girl noticed that everyone had stopped what they were doing and watching them curiously.

Neji sighed, giving into the public pressure. "Tenten, just do it."

The teenaged girl opened her scroll so that it the part she opened fell across her arms. "If you say so ..." she turned towards the girl while biting her thumb, drawing blood. "All you have to do is block the projectiles. If it gets too hard, just let me know and I'll-"

"It's okay. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to handle myself." Moriko replied wearily, not wanting any pity.

Tenten glanced at her suspiciously and set her green covered scroll onto the ground – it was half the height she was. She performed a short chain of seals and pulled the open end of her scroll so that it flew away from her. The scroll rotated where it had been placed and continuously released the roll of paper while Tenten ran her bloody thumb over the inscribed words.

Within the blink of an eye, thousands of weapons summoned from the words of the scroll were hurling towards the girl. Her staff had already begun twirling until the force of the movement created a _whirring_ sound. Faster and faster, the staff parried everything within its range. The ground was littered with weapons. Moriko's hands were moving so rapidly, it was hard to keep track of where they were. Sometimes they were on the left side, a split second later, they had moved to the center, then around her back, then to her right, then back to her left.

The scroll exhausted its supply of weapons and Tenten spun it in the opposite direction to roll everything back up, exhaling a short breath. She looked over at the girl, expecting someone to be healing her. Instead, she stood in slight shock when she realized that the girl was twirling a kunai that she had caught while deflecting the attacks, the staff was already back on her back. Tenten was not the only one who was dumbfounded – everyone present that was on field was as well.

Moriko felt slightly self-conscious as they all stared at her, but what was she supposed to do? Let the weapons hit her? Besides, it was Lee's idea. She tossed the kunai back to Tenten, who caught it absentmindedly.

Everyone exploded comments at once.

"How did you do that...?"

"That was amazing...!"

"... wow ..."

"Holy crap. I couldn't even see your hands while you spun that thing...!"

Moriko squeezed her eyes shut and backed away from the crowd without being noticed, leaving them with a kage bunshin (shadow clone: a clone that isn't an illusion and can be felt and destroyed. When the technique is performed, half the user's chakra goes to the clone, so their chakra is split evenly, making it hard for opponents to distinguish which clone is the real one) while she hid herself using a concealing technique. As she walked away from the crowd, she chided herself. _You shouldn't have wanted to prove yourself to them. One thing always leads to another. I've been through so many things that have taught me that, but I still haven't burned it into my memory. _

When Moriko decided that she was far enough away from the crowd of people, she looked over to the west, watching the sky display a wide variety of colours as the sun retired for the day.

"Not very partial to large groups of people?"

Moriko turned her head to the right, where the teenager named Neji stood. He was also surveying the sunset. She shook her head and returned back to the scene. "No, I'm not. Are you?" she added after a hesitant pause.

"Not unless I have to be," he looked down at her. "What are you?"

Moriko's purple eyes bore into his silver ones. "Excuse me?" her voice was quiet.

"That's not what I meant. You're wearing everything a ninja has and your skill with the staff is extraordinary, but you don't have a head protector."

The girl shrugged carelessly. "So?" Honestly, she had thought about the prospect of going to the Hokage about becoming a nin of Konoha, but she had several good reasons not to.

"Are you a nin or not?"

_That question was bluntly put. _She thought as she looked over to the pink sky. "Depends on your way of thinking," she shifted so that she was leaning back on her arms while sitting crosslegged on the grass. "If you mean skills, then, yes, I can be considered as a nin, but if you mean way of life and commitment, then no, I'm not."

Neji didn't reply and Moriko was content with the silence and peace that settled upon the pasture as their shadows grew longer and as the sky grew darker. "Do you know how to get to the hotpot place?" he asked her when the sky was a navy.

She shook her head.

"I'll take you there. Come on, let's go."


	15. Chapter 15

"ITADAKIMASU!"

Dozens of chopsticks dug into the barbeque platter, competing with each other to grab as many pieces of roasted beef before Chouji snatched them all.

Chouji was a very large teenager. His height was that of Shikamaru, but widthwise, he was somewhat larger. Chouji had inherited the long brown hair, that resembled the spikes of a porcupine, from his father. He was wearing a traditional samurai outfit in maroon. His head protector cloth was also a maroon that matched his suit. By the look on his face, Moriko thought he looked somewhat frustrated at not being able to get to the beef.

The girl was squished in between Kakashi and Shikamaru. Shika saw her empty plate and placed two generous pieces of roasted beef onto the dish. "Thanks," she muttered as she picked up her chopsticks. Keeping herself composed, she separated the wood with a stone-face, causing Shikamaru to burst out a chuckle.

"Being anti-social isn't going to help your situation. They're going to talk to you even more, you know." He told her before stuffing himself with a piece of meat.

Moriko opened her mouth to reply when Chouji yelled loudly, "ALRIGHT EVERYONE! GET OUT OF MY WAY! I NEED MY FOOD!" In the span of three seconds, everything that was on the roasting platter on the barbeque was gone. She blinked in surprise.

"Is it normal for Chouji to eat that fast?" she whispered to Shikamaru.

He was wrestling with his meat. "Ah."

She looked back onto her plate and nibbled slowly at the end of the piece of meat that was caught in between her chopsticks.

Everyone in the room was laughing and making jokes with each other. The air was lively and full of chatter. Even Kakashi, who usually stuck to himself was having fun. This was not the place where Moriko would choose to spend her evening. It was too crowded, too friendly, it reminded her too much that she had no family, no home.

She was still deep in thought when she realized that Lee was calling her. She shook her head clear , putting down her piece of meat. "Oh, sorry, Lee, what?"

He was smiling ecstatically at her with a thumbs up. "I was merely asking if you would like to join us for training tomorrow."

"Er ..."

"Come on, Moriko. You'd be great for us." Tenten said happily. She was still surprised by the skill that the girl showed, but nevertheless, she wanted to learn something new. She was called a weapons master by everyone in Konoha, but there was no way she could've deflected her own attack using the skill that Moriko showed."I'm sure Neji would love to have a match against you sometime." She added with a grin and a sideways glance at her teammate. Neji had convieniently turned his head as if he was looking for something.

Akamaru, who was lying at Kiba's feet underneath the table, nudged at Moriko's calves, making her jump slightly, causing Shikamaru and Kakashi both to flinch. "Sorry." She muttered. She stuck her hand below the table and scratched the spot behind Akamaru's ear. She felt him quiver with comfort. She still had no idea how a dog the size of a lion could fit underneath their cramped table.

"Oh my gawd. Kiba, your dog's underneath the table." Shikamaru said, shifting aside.

"Is he really? Akamaru!" Kiba called for his dog, who for once, refused his command – he snapped at Kiba.

Moriko laughed."Sorry, Kiba, I've stolen your dog."

Shikamaru didn't think he had heard her laugh like that. It sounded so free and without thought. _You should use it more often. _

"I've never seen Akamaru stick onto someone like that. He must really like you."

She shrugged. "I have a way with animals." She fed the dog her plate of beef, not feeling particularily hungry. She wasn't used to eating so much as, normally, she hardly got enough food to survive. Moriko gave Akamaru a last pat and he went over to Kiba.

"Really? Did you have anything in particular?"

Moriko shook her head. "No. Not really. It was usually just me and silence on our travels."

"Man, you've been missing out. Taking care of animals is awesome."

She smiled. "And getting to know every bird in the neighbourhood is awesome. Have you ever heard animals converse with each other, Kiba?" She asked after a short pause.

Kiba took a piece of meat off the roasting platter. "Yeah. Akamaru and I talk all the time."

"Not like that. Sit at the top of your roof during early morning and just listen to the birds sing to each other." Ino, who sat on Kiba's left spoke to her next. "So, Moriko, since you're back, who do you think is hot?"

"Uh ..."

The look on the teenage girl's face was very innocent.

Moriko had no idea how to phrase her sentence so that it didn't offend anyone present. "Uh ... I'm not interested in anyone."

"How could you not be?!"

"Ino. I'm twelve." Moriko replied matter-of-factly.

"So? When I was twelve..."

Moriko let out an exasperated sigh and looked up at the ceiling while Ino gave her speech. All the males present gave a chuckle at her expression. They all understood her pain.

"Hey, Moriko." The girl looked over at the rough alto that spoke. It was Temari. "Sakura told me you could use fuuton, but I heard from Tenten that you only carry a staff around. How does that work?"

_Why are people so curious about me?! _"It's a little hard to explain ... " she looked at Kakashi, who was on her left and gave him a look for help.

"Hey, I'm not the one who's doing it."

"You're the one who taught me."

Kakashi sighed and scratched his forehead. He looked over to Temari as the girl sitting next to him poured herself a bowl of miso soup. "Moriko has a small frame which doesn't allow her to wield something as heavy and as big as a fan, so she uses a staff instead."

"Yeah, but how does a staff create a gust of wind? And why a staff? Why not blades?"

Kakashi shrugged. Moriko answered the question herself. "Same as your fan. When you swipe your fan, a gust of wind is created, right? Same with the staff, only it's considerably weaker. And as to why not a blade, I prefer the staff over a blade." _And even if I get a blade, i'd prefer to wield a katana. I'm not wielding any katana. _She finished talking and stood up. Gaara's stare was starting to unnerve her. It wasn't just Gaara, but Shikamaru was very silent as well. "I'm going to the bathroom." She quickly exited the room and walked outside the restaurant.

The air was chilly and refreshing to her lungs as she took in a deep breath. She exhaled softly, walked over across the street and leapt nimbly onto the fence well away from the light of the restaurant, sitting down as her feet stepped onto the solid wood. Satisfied with the distance between the restaurant and herself, she pulled her knees close to her chest.

_The stars are so pretty tonight. Twinkling ever so brightly, showing us how beautiful they are. That's their only job. There are so many of them ... and each one of them are unique in their own way. They're so content with themselves. _She chuckled to herself. _No family, no friends, just their own beauty. How vain. _Nevertheless, she still admired their beauty.

"You liar. You said you were going to the bathroom."

Moriko sighed inwardly. No one ever left her alone in this village. She looked down from the fence to see Naruto staring up at her. "Hi Naruto."

The blonde-haired teen leaned on the fence and she resumed her observation.

"So what are you doing out here?" She asked him after a silence.

"I have to ask you: Did you see Sasuke anytime you were wandering?" He nearly shouted that question in desperation.

Moriko was surprised, but she shook her head. "No. I didn't ... why? What happened?"

Naruto paused before he said anything. Then, in a low and sad voice, he replied. "During the Chuunin exam three years ago, we were attacked by a Sannin called Orochimaru." The name rang hard in Moriko's ears. She had not forgotten that the matter that had caused her parents' death was connected with this Sannin. "Sasuke was winning the fight. Orochimaru should have died, but he didn't and he gave Sasuke a cursed seal. After that, Sasuke was never the same. The cursed seal gave power to Sasuke, and Sasuke wanted power. In the end, Sasuke ran off with Orochimaru. We've seen him once the entire time he was gone, and we were so close to capturing him. Now he's gone again. But I promise you," Naruto's voice hardened and his fists clenched harder. "I promise you. I promised myself. I promised Sakura-chan, that I'd bring Sasuke back. And I will."

The girl had digested everything that he had said and she understood both sides. She understood Sasuke, who was so desperate and so willing to do anything to defeat his brother, who was responsible for the massacre of his clan, that he would do anything just to get his hands on the power that would make him stronger. She would probably have done the same in his position. On the other hand, there was Naruto, who knew deep inside that there was **some **other way to get through life without revenge. She understood his desire to reach out to his close friend and draw him back. But if Sasuke had chosen that route, then nothing could stop him until he killed his brother and restored his clan. She sighed. So many things have happened since she had left the village.

A thought occurred to her – the Jounin that was with Kakashi the night she nearly destroyed the field. Where was he? She knew that he was the overseer of Shikamaru's squad. "Hey, Naruto...where's that Jounin that smokes?"

Naruto answered in the same depressed tone. "Asuma-san was killed by the Akatsuki about three weeks ago."

Ah. The girl had heard of the Akatsuki. Everywhere she went, there were mutterings about people who travelled in pairs wearing black robes with white clouds on them, of strange powers that followed the pairs, and of kidnappings of the Jinchuuriki's (recap: a person who holds a bijuu). She had never seen on personally, though, and would hopefully not see one. "I'm sorry..." she said in reply, her voice not sounding sorry at all. She just didn't know what to say. _What are you supposed to say when someone dies anyways? It's not like you could say 'it's alright' or 'you'll get over it' or 'they're in a better place now'. _She thought grimly to herself.

There was another silence before Naruto spoke. "Are you going to stay now that you're back?"

Moriko shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't decided whether or not to stay yet. A village isn't really ... my type of dwelling place." But her heart was not so sure. Sure, she complained about it being loud and noisy and restless, but hey, there were people who cared about her even though they constantly reminded her of her deceased family.

"I could talk to baa-chan for you and-" He stopped talking as Moriko appeared in front of him, kunai in hand, stepping on the edge of her foot ready to spring. "Moriko...?"

Before her name even left his mouth, the two were surrounded by a squad of ANBU. As quick as a fish, the hooded one in front of Moriko tried to inject something into her arm. She skipped neatly aside and cuffed him on the jaw hard. He fell down, stunned, and she stepped onto the vial, crushing it. Green liquid seeped onto the floor.

"What do you guys want?" Naruto growled at them, standing as ready as Moriko was.

Another hooded ANBU stepped in front of the group. "Moriko, you were ordered to leave the village under penalty of death. You have violated the rule and we are therefore forced to deal with you appropriately."

The girl raised her eyebrow. "Does the Hokage even know about this?" she asked them quietly. "Or is just because you hate me for what happened in the past?"

The ANBU unsheathed his katana in the blink of an eye and held it to her throat. "You have no right to question our motives. What we do is what we do."

"So that basically means that you guys rule yourselves and can do anything you want." She puffed out a quick stream of air. "Pffff... Fine. You can kill me if you can give me proof that the Hokage has authorized this. I'm pretty sure he won't be very happy when he finds out that their ANBU killed an innocent visitor for an old grudge." _And I'm pretty sure that you can't kill me. _

The katana pressed harder into her neck, drawing blood. Moriko ignored it. She wasn't going to be pushed around by some over-exerted use of authority.

"Let go of her." Naruto pointed a kunai at the hooded ANBU member. His tone was low and dangerous and he was enraged that the ANBU would do something like this. They ignored him. "OY! I'm talking t-" He dropped like a stone as ANBU from the back dealt his head with a rough blow with their katana hilts.

The ANBU who was holding his katana at Moriko's neck stated to her calmly, "We will take this matter and discuss it with the Hokage." She nodded in reply and the group disappeared, leaving only Naruto lying on the street.

Moriko could make out the cliff's that had all the previous' Hokage faces carved into them. She read from a book that the cliff was also called the Hokage's monument. The Academy was right below that, and on the top floor of the Academy building lives the Hokage.

She stopped walking to survey the cliffs – there was a fifth face that she didn't recognize way on the right. It was the face of a woman. Her bangs covered both sides of her face and there was a carved diamond on her forehead. _The Fifth ... ? That means ... _She clenched her fists hard. That meant that the Third died and that the rumours she heard during her travels were true. Someone attacked Konoha and killed the Third in battle. There was a nudge in her ribs and she continued to walk towards the red roofed building, surrounded by ANBU.

There were four on each side of her, one in front, one behind her, and one leading. The girl felt somewhat claustrophobic – she wasn't used to the cramped area as she spent the last three years in a wide open area. She took her last breath of fresh air before placing her foot inside the building.


	16. Chapter 16

"Tsunade-sama."

"Come in!" A stern voice replied from behind the oak door. Moriko tipped her head to the side, ears ringing from the loud sound. The ANBU leader turned the copper handle and pushed the door inwards. His squad separated themselves so that they were blocking the exit while Moriko stood in front of them. The woman sitting at the desk had a cup of tea in her hand. She had pale blonde hair that she tied up into a low ponytail while her bangs fell onto both sides of her face. She looked very young – around her twenties. There was a blue diamond on her forehead. She wore a very casual kimono that had a deep 'v' cut with a pale green coat on top. Instead of questioning her ANBU squad, she directly asked Moriko. "Who are you?" Her voice was hard, loud and full of authority.

"I'll tell you everything if we can be alone. And if you can speak a little quieter, that would be much appreciated." Moriko replied, not meaning disrespect.

Tsunade stood up from her desk. She put her hands on her hips. "ANBU, you are dismissed. Shizune, you too."

The ANBU left silently with a bow. Tsunade's assistant, who had short black hair that went up to her shoulders protested. "Tsunade-sama, you couldn't possibly-"

A vein twitched on the Hokage's temple. "Shizune, leave!"

Her assistant leapt away from her, scooping up a pet pig that was on the floor and nearly sprinted to the door. "Hai (the 'yes' reply to an order or command), Tsunade-sama!" The door clicked shut behind them.

The Hokage turned to the girl. "Now, your name?"

Moriko decided that this wasn't a woman to be meddled with. She prepared herself for the longest talk she had in her life. "Moriko, Tsunade-sama."

The Hokage leaned on her desk. "The ANBU wouldn't have brought you here if they thought something was wrong. I've never seen you before at our village, so tell me why you're here."

The girl exhaled. "Four years ago, Kakashi was assigned on a mission to investigate a family living in Konoha about Orochimaru. They told him that they didn't know anything and he left with nothing more than what he came with. A year later, that family's house was destroyed by the ANBU. The parents whom were investigated before were killed cruelly. Their child, who was away during the time of the kill, came back and found their mangled bodies. She fainted from shock. When she went back to give her parents a proper burial, she was confronted with four ANBU members who intended to kill her. She went berserk and killed all four of them. After that incident, she left Konoha. Now, she's back and the ANBU are convinced that she is a criminal because of what she did. They wanted to kill her, but she challenged them about their authority and they took her to the Hokage."

"Very well." Tsunade said after a long, unnerving silence. "Your crimes were performed in an understandable situation. Were you an official villager when that took place?"

Moriko shook her head. "No. I was adopted and I wasn't registered into school or the Academy."

"And yet, you're standing here before me with nin tools, weapons and telling me that you managed to defeat four fully capable ANBU members four years ago?"

"Ah." Moriko rubbed the back of her head nervously. She didn't want to give away information that seemed irrelevant and too personal.

"You're free from your crimes. It wasn't your fault anyways. I'll have to talk with those ANBU about this," she muttered to herself. She looked at Moriko's expression. "Spit it out. You look like you have something to say."

"Sorry, I was wondering if I could somehow become an official ranked ninja in any way."

"I'll have to see about that. You'll have to take a test, and because you aren't from this village and didn't grow up learning our ways, you'll have to be tested for loyalty."

Moriko nodded. She understood. Nin villages had be very sure about their nin's loyalties or else there'd be betrayals left and right.

"You're welcome to stay in Konoha if you'd like."

"That would be great, thanks." Moriko smiled and headed for the door.

"Do you need anyone to show you around?"

She raised a hand. "No. I'm fine on my own, thanks." The door opened and Naruto fell at Moriko's feet.

"Naruto! Were you listening to our entire conversation?!" Tsunade was furious.

Moriko looked at the boy, who was now sitting up, rubbing his head. "She's allowed to stay, right?"

Tsunade sighed hopelessly. "Yes, she is."

"For real?! That's awesome!" He punched the air. "Hear that, Kakashi-sensei? Moriko can stay and help us find Sasuke!"

"Yes, I did hear it. Welcome home, kiddo." Kakashi leaned on the doorway, beside her.

Moriko couldn't help but smile at him. Then she peeked into the hallway. "Shikamaru, you tagged along too?" Tsunade looked to the doorway. Sure enough, she saw Shikamaru joining Kakashi, grinning.

"Ah. I was wondering what took you so long and I knew you weren't going to go to the bathroom. I found Naruto outside, out like a lightbult, so I woke him up and told me that the ANBU took you. Here was the best bet."

Tsunade smiled at the two – they were just like a brother and sister. "Moriko, it looks like you have some good friends to watch your back."

_Friends ... _Moriko looked at the two boys, who were smiling at her, and at her sensei.

"While you two grin like a pair of dumb mules, you'd better get out of my office before I punch you all through the wall." Tsunade's bark sounded.

The two boys scrambled through the doorway as Kakashi followed calmly. Moriko chuckled to herself, ready to close the door behind her when Tsunade's voice sounded again, this time soft and gentle. "Moriko," the girl didn't turn around. "Welcome back to Konoha."

The girl paused and looked downwards, not knowing what to say, then closed the door with a gentle _snap_.

Tsunade didn't release her gaze from the closed door. She sighed._ She's a strong one and would be a good asset for us one day. Get over your insecurities and your losses. Kakashi, Shikamaru and Naruto are all here to back you up and make you feel at home. You don't have any reason to worry anymore. Trust your friends, Moriko, trust them. _

Naruto was chatting happily with himself as they exited the building. Shikamaru had his hands behind his head and was looking at the sky while he walked, Kakashi had his hands in his pocket and Moriko was absent-mindedly following them, replaying what Tsunade had said before she left. Did she truly and really welcomed her to Konoha? Did she really have nothing to fear anymore in the village? Could she really stay?

"So what'd you think?"

Moriko looked beside her to Kakashi. "About what?"

"The barbeque."

She shrugged. "I dunno. The people are friendly enough ... but why do they keep asking questions about me?"

"People only ask questions because you don't say anything about yourself. They don't know anything about you, of course they have to ask questions."

Naruto stopped walking and looked back at them. "I should introduce you to my teammate, Sai. He has no clue in things like this either."

They walked in silence towards the edge of the village. "Why was there a barbeque anyways?" she asked.

Shikamaru and Naruto exchanged glances. Then Shikamaru spoke. "I just came back from solving a mishap. That's why we're celebrating."he said slowly, but carefully.

From the look on his face, Moriko instantly knew that it had something to do with Asuma. She took a guess. "Akatsuki?" They nodded. "Who?"

"Kazuku and Hidan."

"...I see ..." she stopped walking. "Kakashi," she waited until he turned his head, then looked up at him. "Do you feel up for any training? I have something I want to show you."

Kakashi smiled. "Sure."

"I'm coming!" Naruto shouted, excited for the chance to finally see Moriko's newly developed skills. "How about you, Shikamaru?"

Shika was looking at Moriko, slightly interested in what she had to show the sensei. He shrugged. "Sure, I'll tag along."

He fell back with Moriko as Kakashi and Naruto went ahead. "Congrats." she said to him.

"Thanks."

"While I was at the Country of rice, I visited the library of stories and there was one in particular that caught my eye." Moriko took out a scroll from her hip pouch. She rolled it open, showing her three companions.

They were back at the training grounds where foilage and trees were as common as grass and bare patches of land that stretched as far as the eye could see. The four friends had stopped on the edge of the grass that led to the light brown land ahead.

The scroll had a picture of a man holding forward a kunai with a large being at the back. It was prickly, and therefore, hard to make out, but the colour of the creature was a gold. The man had a head protector that was worn on his neck. Three waves that made up a likeness of a flame was inscribed on the head protector. In the foreground of the flame was a fully bloomed tree. On the trunk of the tree, there were three slashes as if a bear had marked it with its claws.

"There's a description of the picture in the scroll that followed it," Moriko said as she let them investigate the artwork. "I copied this with a technique," she added hastily as Shikamaru rose an eyebrow to her. "The man in the picture is unknown, but his headband was definitely ... something different. I searched through the whole library and there was not one record of another head protector like that." she took back the scroll as Shika handed it back to her. "It wasn't only that though. The creature behind the man... Kakashi, you find that familiar, don't you?"

The sensei looked at her while scratching his head. "Ah. I do."

"How did he separate it from his human body? That's what I wanted to know."

A silence followed her statement.

"I've also been thinking about that. Your transformation is similar to Naruto's Kyuubi transformation. You take the shape of the form sealed into you and you lose control over your mind." Kakashi said.

"Yes ... but I can control my transformation and trasnform at will. But I don't only have the wolf form. I have half a leopard form and some of the hawk. But I can't transform into them fully. I've tried." she added sheepishly. "I'm just wondering how the man could separate his spirit forms from his body. Wouldn't that be killing yourself?" She was thinking of all the Jinchuuriki that went through that horrible fate.

Naruto, evidently was as well. He clearly saw Gaara, the Kazekage of the Sand, lying at the Akatsuki hideout, having his Bijuu extracted from him. He remembered the rage and sorrow when he found his friend dead. And he remembered the gratitude, sadness, and amazement when Chiyo baa-sama, the elder of the Sand, gave her life to revive him. For sure, taking the spirit out of a human body can only be done if you wanted to kill yourself. "What if ..." he wondered aloud. "What if the man in the scroll wasn't human?"

"What would you suggest he is, then?" Shikamaru asked, bemused about the thought.

"Who cares? But it's not possible to extract a spirit from a human body without killing it. That's for sure."

Moriko felt as if she had gotten everyone's nervous way up. "It was just a thought. But I did want to show you this." She walked several meters away before drawing a small diagram with her foot. Before Naruto could ask what it was, the ground gave one quick shake and the ground gave away to create a larger drawing of the diagram she first drew. It was the same diagram as the one she showed Sasuke before she left. "I didn't get to show you this before we left, Kakashi, so here we go. This is my first technique." A kage bunshin (shadow clone) appeared beside her and walked into the middle of the circle.

None of her companions behind even saw her arms move when she performed the hand seals. Unlike three years ago, Moriko no longer had to close her eyes in concentration when executing the technique.

A gust of wind filled up the entire column. Naruto shouted over the roaring wind. "Kakashi-sensei! What's happening!?"

Kakashi had pushed his head protector off of his left eye. "The wind is generated by thousands of senbon needles moving around in the column, like your rasengan. It seems to be a one-hit KO move. It's impossible to be able to even move in a situation like that."

The wind subsided and they all craned their necks forward to watch the kage bunshin stride out of the circle. The clone did not move. It was virtually ripped into pieces. Sparing herself of the grotesque scene, she released the technique and sent another bunshin inside. "Kakashi, you were right. All these original techniques are meant to be used for one-hit KO attacks since they're constricted in this area. The attack doesn't work outside of the circle because there are too many things outside of the area I have to worry about if I did. The attack would go beserk if I didn't contain it inside anything." she explained. "Anyways, here's the second one." Kakashi couldn't see anything happen until the chakra level in the diagram was so concentrated, he was able to see it with his naked eye. Moriko said to them without turning her head. "I'd advise you to stand back."

"What about y-"

There was a loud explosion that cut of Shikamaru's concern.

"What was that?!"

"She compressed the amount of air in the diagram, then added chakra into it. The enemy basically suffocates inside the diagram before being blown into pieces. Gruesome. When did you think of these?"

Moriko made no comment. "The third one is similar to the second one." She compressed the air in the diagram again, and conjured up as much oxygen as she could. She leapt back until she was kneeling beside Shikamaru and added her chakra into the diagram. With care she told Kakashi to blow a considerably small fireball towards the diagram.

The ball of flame hit the edges of the diagram. It travelled to the center without anything happening and began to expand rapidly. There was a loud rumble and then a loud, heated explosion, sounding as if a volcano had erupted.

"My ears ..." Naruto groaned, putting his palms over them.

"Sorry. I won't do the last one then, since it involves another large explosion." Moriko was grinning at his pain.

"That's what you wanted to show me?" Kakashi asked her, ignoring the ringing in his ears.

Moriko nodded.

"I see. Well, I have to say I'm impressed. Sasuke told me about the first one though, during our Chidori training."

The Chidori was Kakashi's original technique. It was a lightning natured attack and is used for cutting through any object, including through skin and bone. Chakra is focused on the hand of the user, then adding the lightning element to it, making it seem as if the hand of the user is enveloped in an electric current. By altering the shape of the force, the user can decide the range and power of the attack. The Sharingan is used to watch the opponent for any counter attacks that might be executed within the time of the thrust. The technique emits a sound like a thousand birds chirping because of its high concentration, the name of the technique was decided (Chidori means a thousand birds). However, the technique consumes a large amount of chakra, so the use of the technique is limited per day.

"You taught him the Chidori...?" the girl was baffled. The Chidori was a dangerous move, and although Sasuke was a Sharingan natural, he could use it for purposes other than protecting his friends ...

"You know Chidori?" Naruto asked, jealous.

The girl nodded.

"Then you'll know rasengan."

"Yes ..."

"Then do you know how to add your chakra element into it?"

Moriko shrugged. "It's basically the same as making one of those techniques, only on a smaller scale. Why?"

Shikamaru laughed. "Naruto, you show-off."

"There's nothing wrong with wanting a little recognition!"

"I didn't say there was!"

Naruto made a cross in front of his face by overlapping the first two fingers of each hand. "Then you won't mind me doing so. Kage bunshin no jutsu."

A/N Sorry. I stopped here cause I wasn't sure if I"d spoil the next Naruto episode for others or not.


	17. Chapter 17

Two clones appeared and began molding something in the original's hand. After a while, a blue orb of whirling chakra appeared on Naruto's outstretched palm- the Rasengan.

Rasengan was an original technique that the third Hokage developed. It is an unfinished technique, since he planned to combine elemental chakra with the orb. However, he failed to do so, and so, the technique remained unfinished. The Rasengan required the highest level of chakra shape manipulation. The fast rotating sphere of chakra is concentrated on the palm of the user's hand and can cause much destruction on impact.

Curious as to see what Naruto had to show her, Moriko watched carefully. She knew from Kakashi that Naruto possessed very bad chakra control, which meant that he had to create a clone to help him with the molding of the Rasengan. The second clone, seemed to be putting elemental chakra into the rasengan.

The two clones beside Naruto disappeared as he held up a large shurikan shaped rasengan into the air. It was a grey colour instead of its normal blue. The teenager was smiling as he held up his technique. "Rasen Shurikan."

"How much damage does it do?" Moriko asked, wanting to know. The rasengan disappeared from his hand, leaving it bloody and burned. He put his hand down. "Quite a lot actually. The rasengan is formed by lots of small blades that can sever a person's chakra circulation system on impact. But it does the same to my arm, so Tsunade baa-chan declared it to be forbidden."

"It looks as if you can only maintain the technique for a couple of seconds before you have to release it."

"Ah."

"He used this technique to severly injure Kazuku, then Kakashi-sensei finished him off." Shikamaru explained in a low tone.

"Ohh..."

"Oy! Kakashi-sensei! Naruto-kun! Shikamaru-kun! Moriko-chan! Ohayo (good morning)!" Lee's voice echoed across the training grounds. They saw his tiny silhouette waving to them.

"Looks like we have company. Ohayo!" Kakashi gave a small wave back.

Lee, Neji, and Tenten came into sight from inbetween the trees and were walking over to the three friends. Moriko turned to Naruto and nodded towards his burnt arm. "Do you want me to heal that for you?"

Naruto looked at his injury. "Huh? Oh. Yeah, sure. Thanks."

Moriko kneeled down beside him and put her palms over the wound as a light green chakra surrounded her hands. The wounds began to mend itself slowly.

By the time the three newcomers reached the small party, Naruto's arm was as good as new and Moriko was lying on a green patch of grass watching the early morning clouds with Shikamaru, ignoring the wet dew on the blades of thin grass. Kakashi was leaning against a tree trunk, a considerable distance away, reading his perverted green book. Moriko knew it was perverted – she had stolen it from his hip pouch when he wasn't looking and immediately put it back after reading a random page, rolling her eyes.

"Moriko-chan!" Lee's head suddenly appeared over her face.

She rolled aside and sat up. _A bit too close for my comfort._ "Good morning, Lee." And since when did he start calling her 'chan'?

"Did you go home early after the barbeque last night? I didn't see you after you said you'd go to the bathroom." Tenten said, coming up beside her teammate.

Neji was somewhere behind them, standing up, surveying the clouds as well.

Moriko rubbed the back of her head – a habit she'd inherited from Kakashi. "No. Well ... er ... I had an appointment with the Hokage."

"The Hokage?! Really? What'd you guys talk about?"

_Girls and all their latest news thing. _"Nothing much ... just ... priveliges and about joining the village and all that stuff."

"Ahh ..." Tenten straightened up. "You want to show me how to work that staff of yours?"

The threesome had stopped by the base of the large oak tree to retrieve Moriko's weaponry, which she had stored there before the barbeque. She tossed it from hand to hand, playing around with her staff. "Haruki?"

"Haruki? Who's that? I was talking about your staff."

"I know. I named it that." she held the staff outstretched in front of her and spun it. Slowly, she smoothly slide it to her left side, turned it around under her armpit, slid it to her right side, did the same thing, then slid it above her head, then back to the front.

Tenten summoned a staff from her large scroll and repeated the move that Moriko had displayed perfectly. "That's basic staff skill."

Moriko rested the staff across her shoulders, holding it with her left hand. "What did you want to know then?"

"How you deflected all my attacks. Surely it must've been something more complicated than that..." Tenten trailed off as her eyes saw two long arrowhead-like spearheads form at each end of the staff.

The girl began spinning her staff again. Without the weapons being deflected, the purple spearheads could be seen spinning. As they spun, they left an aura of the chakra in the air. In less than a second later, the aura merged with another aura, creating a very effective shield.

Tenten gaped. In the span of five seconds, Moriko's front side was completely shielded by a two dimensional chakra field. A white flash appeared from the corner of her eye and she smiled to herself.

Moriko saw the movement as well, though her eyes were used to the speed and was able to see Neji coming in on her right side, one arm pulled back with his fingers ready to strike. She swung the staff away from its rotation and moved it in a graceful motion across to her right side while leaping back. Her cheek stung as Neji's fingers missed by inches. She pulled Haruki vertically in front of her so that one spearhead pointed at the Hyuuga. She bared her teeth, exposing two very sharp canines. Tsunade guaranteed that she wouldn't be attacked. What would someone like he want? And he seemed as if he welcomed her in Konoha!

The Hyuuga was standing in a stance she had never seen before – his right palm was outstretched at chest level while his other palm was facing the ground beside his hip. It was such a neat stance that Moriko almost thought it was the start of a dance (dance as in martial art set dance). Neji's eyes were also very different. Veins from his temples were bulged and his eyes were white. Clearly, he was using a kekkei genkai (bloodline limit).

She tossed Haruki aside – no point in using a polearm if he was going to use taijutsu. Judging from the sting in her cheek even though he hadn't made contact with her, she concluded that he expelled chakra from his chakra pores to attack.

Chakra pores (or chakra points) are called tenketsu. There are three hundred and sixty one chakra points on one's keirakukei (chakra highway, it's simliar to your blood circulatory system). Theoretically, as Moriko read in a book, if one were to attack the tenketsu directly, they are able to shut down your chakra system. She sighed and went down on all fours. If he was going to attack her tenketsu, good luck.

Neji was puzzled. _What the heck is the girl doing? _His question was short-lived as purple chakra leaked from her body and covered her, forming a complete purple opaque covering. Ears were formed, a muzzle could be seen, and her originally purple eyes turned topaz, which were the only body part that could be seen. Neji straightened, completely mortified at what he saw.

Kakashi had put his book away and stood beside Lee, who's eyes were staring wide at the wolf. Naruto, Shikamaru and Tenten matched Lee's expression exactly. "What ... is she?" Naruto asked, voice shaking.

"I don't know." Kakashi answered softly, watching her. He knew that she had improved her control of whatever she had inside of her, but there was something unnerving about the picture she had showed them. He hoped that she wouldn't try something stupid like try and extract the spirit out of herself.

Shikamaru felt the same, though he was still baffled at how little he knew about the girl. It **felt **as if he knew her really well, but in reality, he hardly knew anything about her besides the fact that she was an orphan, who knew very little about herself and who was a specialist in ninjutsu. _She's quite a bundle of mysteries. Figuring them all out will be troublesome, but I guess it'll all be worth it in the end. _

Neji dodged to the right, ignoring the whistling in his ears as a large claw flashed centimeters away from his face. He hadn't been able to attack directly since Moriko had turned into the fierce wolf. He had no chance to. Though his speed and his attacks were beyond normal, the girl was always several steps ahead of him. He only challenged her because he thought she'd be a good opponent to test his skills on. She was acting as if she wanted to kill him. What had he done to her?

He tried to recall everything he had done the past ten minutes, leaping farther away from his opponent as he did. But even then, he couldn't think of anything he did to offend her. Searing pain ran through his body as the wolf kicked him with its powerful haunches. He flew forward and was prepared to launch himself off the ground with one arm when he was hit upwards by a headbutt. _Even with my three hundred and sixty degrees vision, I can't see her. What a girl..._

Lee caught his teammate as he fell back down as Kakashi pinned Moriko onto the ground. Shikamaru had her secured with his shadow technique (his technique allows the user to take control of the opponent's body). Her chakra form disappeared and she lay struggling on the barren ground. The sensei was talking to her calmly, with a certain degree of firmness. "He wasn't trying to kill you."

Moriko tried to struggle, but to no avail. "So this is what your technique is." she muttered to Shikamaru, who was holding his hand seal in place while crouching. Then she turned to Kakashi. "What'd he attack me for?"

"He wasn't attacking you! He just wanted to see how good you were!" Tenten shot back indignantly, defending her teammate.

"His face, his stance, and his eyes looked as if they wanted to kill me."

"Maybe you should get to know him a little bit more!"

"Well, I'm sorry. But when you've been watching out for your own life for everyday for three years straight, you'd start to think that every glare, every look towards you might be someone who wants to kill you! What are you supposed to expect from a village that wanted to get rid of you?!" Moriko yelled back, eyes closed. Her fists were clenched. _I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have said that. _How many years has it been since she had a sudden outburst of words like that? Five? Six?

There was a numbed silence.

Tenten's eyes softened. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Kakashi, if you would look up, you'd see that I really need you to get off of me." Moriko was irritated.

Kakashi looked up at the sky – there was a single hawk circling above them. "It's a message from the Hokage."

"Ah. And it seems as if the poor guy hasn't eaten for half a day already." The girl muttered from underneath his elbow. She sprung up as soon as Shikamaru's technique was lifted.

"Whoa, Moriko," She was caught by the back of her collar by Kakashi. Stone-faced, she turned around to face him. "Since when could you understand hawk language?"

She struggled. "Like I said, I've inherited some traits of the hawk. I can understand tigers and wolves. But hawks speak the most poetically."

Lee cartwheeled to the edge of the trees. "Let's go then!"

Kakashi shook his head. "Only Naruto, Neji, Shikamaru, and Moriko are summoned. The rest of you can stay here."

"But Kakashi-sensei, you're coming with us, right?" Naruto asked, shifting his head protector.

"I'm not summoned."

Neji was already beside Lee, who was very downcast at not being picked. "Let's go."

"See ya when we get back, Kakashi-sensei!"

Shikamaru stood up and faced Moriko. "Well, looks like it'll be your first mission as a nin."

The fire had gone out of the girl's eyes. "I guess ... I didn't expect a mission to be issued so soon. I just talked to her last night ..."

"Well, this is how life is going to be if you're going to be a nin." Kakashi said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Knowing you, you'll be fine. Go join the other two. I need to talk with Shikamaru."

The girl gave her teacher a long look, then disappeared, reappearing next to Naruto, kneeling. She had seen the puzzlement and curiousity coming from Tenten before she left and she didn't like it.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Sorry about the late update. I was out of town for a while. But the trip was great. Anyways, here you are. And thanks for the reviews people have been giving. :)

Unlike the night before, when Tsunade was loose with her attitude, the atmosphere now, when she was assigning an A-rank mission, was tense. Neji, Naruto, Shikamaru stood beside Moriko in a horizontal line facing the Hokage's desk. While the Hokage was speaking, no one dared to interrupt her nor to ask questions. Moriko did her best to follow the example of those beside her. _It's a little too formal for me. _

"...there has been several small village massacres around the south border of the Fire country. One of our nins that was passing by was lucky enough not to be spotted while during one of them." she handed out a file to Neji, who was a Jounin, and therefore, in charge of the platoon. As the file reached Neji's hands, Moriko felt the atmosphere loosen a little. She sighed, grateful that she could breathe again. Neji flipped the file open. Inside were detailed reports of what the nin had seen.

Neji scanned through them. "... the nin wasn't able to find the reason for the massacre?"

Tsunade shook her head. "No. They gave no signs that they were looking for something. It was just pure killing."

Shikamaru picked up a report from the file. ""Each massacre lasted for about fifteen minutes and there were only sounds of roaring... occasional screeches from a hawk ... Burned the entire village afterwards and left without a word."" He looked up from the piece of paper. "Sounds to me as if they're killing for fun. But what reason would they have to just attack small villages without explanation? Or is that what you want us to find out?"

Tsunade rubbed her head. "Ah. I'm assigning you guys an a-rank mission to find out the cause of the massacres. If you find the killers, you are permitted to kill them."

"When are we to leave?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Moriko, where are you going?"

The girl was walking back towards the training grounds and didn't bother looking back to reply Naruto's question. "I have something I want to do. I'll see you guys tomorrow." She put her hand up and waved it once, then disappeared from their sight.

Naruto turned around to face Shikamaru. "Do you think we should follow her?"

His friend yawned, putting his hands behind his head. "No. Leave her alone," the kunoichi (another name for ninja) turned around, walking the other way. "I'm going to take a nap. See you later." His concern for the girl had dwindled since Kakashi talked with him.

_When Kakashi said that he wanted to talk with him, he didn't think that it was going to be anything serious. Shikamaru's eyes didn't leave Moriko's form even though she had joined Naruto. At least, not until Kakashi spoke._

_"I know that you worry about Moriko a lot. Just remember not to let her age fool you."_

_Shikamaru gave him a 'yeah, yeah' look and rubbed his neck. "Is that it?" _

_Kakashi looked at him sideways. "For now, she's too preoccupied to see that you're worried about her. If she finds out, she'll probably never talk to you again." _

_"And what makes you say that?"_

_"That's just who she is. She's so independent and she hates it when her friends get hurt."_

_"So shouldn't it be nice to have someone care about you once in a while?" _

_"That only adds onto her insecurity. Whenever someone does something for her, she feels as if she has to return the favour. If you worry for her, she won't know how to pay you back." _

_"She should know that she doesn't have to!" _

_Kakashi stared at the boy. "You've known her for almost three days. Back off on the parental concern and see her for who she is." _

_Shikamaru stood shocked for a moment. He never knew Kakashi could be so blunt, but, it was the truth. Maybe he was a little over concerned about the girl. It was just hard – his feelings for her were all so muddled. She's so young and, yet, here Kakashi was, telling him to let her handle emotional and possibly stresful situations on her own? What was that!? Still, he had no other choice but to comply. He gave a sigh. "Ah."_

Moriko entered the shade of the trees, thankful that her friends knew to leave her alone. She walked deeper into trees. She picked a nice spot under a large tree and sat down at its base, leaning against it. She looked at her palm, replaying Naruto's new rasengan in her head. She looked up, continuously opening and closing her palm, and gave a soft sigh. Effortlessly, a purple rasengan formed in her left palm. _The rasengan is supplied by chakra that is released from my hand. If I detach it, it will fade... _Moriko's eyes snapped open. The girl got up, rasengan in hand, and a slight grin at the corner of her mouth.

"Oh geez. Is there a day where Naruto hasn't been late?"

"You made us wake up a little early." Shikamaru yawned.

Moriko rolled her wrist, stretching it. She couldn't deny the fact that Neji had woken them up a little too early, considering who was on their team. It wasn't natural for Naruto to wake up before the sun rose. She closed her eyes, twirling a kunai on her finger.

It was a long while before she heard Naruto's voice. "Sorry guys!" She could literally imagine him waving at them while running over. She stopped her kunai playing and walked over to Shikamaru and Neji. The early sunlight warmed her face.

Neji waited until Naruto was several meters away from the party until he asked Shikamaru. "Right. Shikamaru, what's the formation?"

Shikamaru stuffed his hands inside his pant pockets. "From front to back it's me, Moriko, then Naruto, then Neji. Neji, you need to make sure you know what's behind as us as well as around us."

The Hyuuga nodded. "Got it."

"Hey, wait," Naruto rummaged his knapsack and pulled out a small container. Opening it, they saw that it contained three medium sized brown balls. He held it out. "Sakura-chan told me to give you guys these. They're soldier pills, so we can conserve our energy until we get to where we're going."

The three took one, knowing that Naruto already took his. Not wanting to taste the foul taste of medicine, Moriko stuffed it into her mouth, chewed it twice and swallowed, flinching at its bitterness. The girl looked back at the other two who were taking small bites of the pill and impatiently tapped her foot – she was eager to be off.

"Come on, let's go already! You guys can eat it on the way!" Naruto was already a considerable distance away on the road.

"Naruto! You're supposed to stay in your formation!" Neji shouted, cramming the rest of the pill into his mouth.

The orange haired boy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, I can't really do tha, can I? You three are such slow..." the word trailed off when he realized Moriko was beside him, twirling her kunai again. His eyes darted from her to the two friends that were walking towards them. "Nevermind." he muttered.

Shikamaru had never seen Moriko so jumpy before. Her body movements clearly showed that she was impatient. But why? This mission shouldn't be anything important or even distantly related to her. Was it because it was her first mission as a nin? He smiled to himself. Her impatience was affecting him – he couldn't wait to get started either, despite his lazyness.

Neji seemed to be reading his mind - he turned to his teammate. "Let's run."

By the time they reached Naruto and Moriko, all of them were eager to leave. Moriko took one last look at Konoha before it disappeared from their view. _There's something different about me. This mission has been making my blood boil excitedly since last night. _She looked to the faded marker by the gate. _Mother, father, you would've been horrified to see me walk out of these gates as a nin, but wait. I'll show you. I'll prove to you that I was born to become a nin. That this is what my biological parents would've wanted. Rest well until I get back. _

She turned around and settled into her spot behind Shikamaru.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Sorry about the late update. I've been supremely busy these past few weeks. Here you go. I know it's kinda short, but I'll do my best to update as much as I can.

On the edge of a burning village, two young men stood surveying a flowing river that was right outside the its entrance. The man holding a spear threw it beside him. The point buried itself into the ground. "Go find somewhere for us to spend the next few days in."

The younger man ruffled his ocean blue streaked white hair and walked off.

The first man looked down at his own reflection in the river. _She's bound to be in the Leaf country._

"Smokes. Look at that. You'd never even know that this was a village before!"

The other three had to agree, but kept their tongues still. They had reached their first village destination in a good four days. The valley that surrounded the village was easy to spot. However, getting through it was another thing. Just as well, with a river that winded through the valley, the small party couldn't see how a village would be able to thrive.

The four had stood completely dumbstruck when they saw the small pile of ashes where they knew for sure where the village used to be. The ground was black and charred, trees were half gone, the area was desolate and barren.

Neji looked through the pile of ashes using his Byakugan, not wanting to dirty his hands going through it manually. Shikamaru was nearby, walking slowly and observing the ground beneath him for any signs that the attackers had left behind. Naruto was doing his own thing near the river. Moriko was a fair distance away from the village, looking for places where the attacker could've struck first. She found it further upstream – two sets of footprints and a set of what it looked like to be a large lizard of some kind. The prints showed that they were entering the village, not exiting it. She kept the prints in mind and walked by the riverbank, looking for any signs of the targets' exiting. There! Several meters away from where the platoon had come in from, there were faded, but very obvious signs of the exact same prints – a set of lizard prints and two sets of footprints. Judging by their size, both their targets were men.

It wasn't the men's prints that intrigued the girl, but the lizard prints. Why would someone in their right mind carry or take a lizard to kill people? By the prints, she knew that it was at least half as tall as a full grown tree, and nearly as long as two moose, but ... it still didn't make any logical sense to have a lizard with you in battle. It was then that Moriko noticed the faint print of a thick, dragging tail. She leaned closer to make out the complete shape when she recoiled back in horror – the print still held the scent of chakra. Wild chakra.

The clues clicked and Moriko stood frozen with realization. _I don't know for sure yet ... just stay calm ... it could have been just a coincidence... _But the girl knew that it wasn't. For sure, it wasn't a coincidence.

A hand rested lightly on her shoulder. She recognized it before her instinct kicked it. "Hi Shika."

"You alright? You seem a little on the quiet side."

She chuckled at the irony – she was usually quiet, he just never knew since she felt comfortable around him. The smile faded from her face. "Ah..."

Before Shika could interrogate her further, he noticed the tracks on the ground next to his friend. "So that's what you were doing... mind if I-"

Naruto stuck his head in between them. "What's going on? I want to know too!"

Moriko recoiled at the loud sound that bounced straight into her ears. She rubbed them vigoriously while stepping to the side so that Neji could join them. He knelt down and felt the sand. It was brittle, but not very hard. He activated his Byakugan and scanned the tracks again, looking for chakra traces. Moriko stiffened as they held their breath.

At last, Neji got up and shook his head. "They came by around a week ago. The water from the river keeps the tracks wet, so it's hard to tell. But there's no chakra trace." Glad, Moriko released a very light sigh, relaxing her shoulders. Neji continued, "Their tracks lead us out of the valley. Let's go."

The platoon resumed their travelling order and trekked the entire day. Complaints and mutters from Naruto didnt even reach Moriko's ears – she was too anxious to see what they would find at the end of the tracks.

"This is ridiculous. How many villages did they destroy?!"

The trail had led them into another village, not very far away from the previous one. All that was left was a charred area on the once grassy terrain. The wind blew strong and carried a tint of salt.

Shikamaru, Neji, and Moriko stood from a distance, watching Naruto walk through the barren land. "We're near another running water source." Shikamaru muttered.

Neji shouldered his bag, eyes glued on Naruto's form. "The two of them might be the water type."

"But think about it. What would they gain from leading all these massacres? We know that cities and villages usually sprout near water sources. Maybe they're clearing land."

Silence followed Shikamaru's statement. Why would they be clearing land? Creating another village? For what reason?

Moriko leapt onto a tree, wanting to get rid of the thoughts flooding her mind. Climbing swiftly up the trunk, she reached the top and stood on the tip of the trunk. She called a hawk's cry. The boys at the bottom were silent, not wanting to interrupt.

The call was answered shortly and she replied after an interval. This went on for a while until Moriko leapt down beside them. Naruto had finished inspecting and was standing beside Neji.

"There were two young men that were seen walking out from a large fire near the south. I think that's our best bet for now. They were near a river." Moriko said, ignoring their questioning glances.

The three boys looked at each other. "Let's go then," Neji turned to the girl. "How far away is it?"

Moriko shrugged. "Five miles of flying at least."

"Straight south?"

The girl nodded, not in the mood for words.

Naruto exhaled loudly with a smile on his face. He shifted his head protector. "Let's go kick some rogue butt."

The young man in white hair fell smoothly into the underground cave that he had found near the river. His companion, a man with light brown hair and sharp turqoise eyes, looked to him. "What news?"

"She's coming. Just a little over a league."

"Anyone with her?"

"Three male teenagers."

The turqoise eyes seemed to gleam. "They will be no problem."


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: Sorry for the late updates. Here you are!

"Moriko, what's wrong?"

They were approaching their destination at a steady pace until the girl stopped dead just as their party was about to enter the valley. There was something about the air that made her uneasy. _They will be no problem..._ Why did that sentence appear so suddenly in her mind? It wasn't just the atmosphere ... it was as if someone had literally tapped her shoulder and whispered it into her ear. She shook her head – everyone wa slooking at her. "Nothing, sorry. Just had a sudden cramp, that's all." She continued walking, ignoring the doubting glances that were passed behind her.

It was late in the night when the group decided to camp. Actually, they hadn't progressed that much since Moriko had her insecure outburst.

Long after the four had settled into the sleeping bags, long after the fire burned out, the girl was still staring up at the stars. Shikamaru was also kept awake. Not because of excitement or apprehension, but because his friend seemed troubled.

The girl knew that he was up. Keeping her eyes fixed above her, she asked Shikamaru, "Have you ever had the past catch up with you?"

"Ah. Many times." He replied after a while.

"Don't you hate it when it turns to be exactly opposite of what you wanted it to be?"

"I don't think I understand ..."

Another silence. "Let's say, you were an orphan,"and Shikamaru knew that she was switching roles with him just for a short while. "And you grew up with foster parents. You've always dreamed that your parents were great people, who were respectable and well-liked. Now, lets say you find out that they were mass murderers, killers, thieves, wouldn't you be devastated?"

Shikamaru didn't know how to respond. Of course he would be ... but it was always so tiring to think of these things ... was she trying to tell him something?

Moriko turned onto her side and halted all further conversation, not wanting to know what his response would be, even though she could imagine him saying it already.

The sun was high up in the sky when the platoon arrived at the site of the village – it was black and, evidentely, was burned very recently. They had found no survivors and only the same patterns as before – the strange tracks, the site of the massacres ... they knew all of the information already.

The site of the massacres reeked of the wild chakra, though the others didn't seem to notice. Moriko nearly vomitted as she walked near the burned area. Instead of walking through it, she walked towards the river, hoping that she would find something new. It didn't take long to find a set of footprints. There was no sign of the other one, but there was a thin slit of soil that caved in near the prints. Some kind of sharp weapon, she presumed. Right next to the spot where the weapon marked its rest was a large granite rock.

Moriko ran her hands over it, searching for anything that the killers could have left behind. There! It was a slight chakra remain and it was the normal chakra. The smell was strong. Moriko looked into the river. _We're close ... _A sense of deja vu overwhelmed the girl and she ducked just in time to avoid a kunai burst out from the river. Her left hand flew upwards and caught it in mid-air. Jumping until she had reached a satisfactory distance away from the river, she twirled the kunai around her finger. In the blink of an eye, the kunai had been flipped around and the girl clashed weapons with the white-haired young man. He was dripping wet, but didn't really seem to care. There was a flash and a clang as she deflected fierce blows away from her collarbone and at her upper thigh. Both kunai moved faster than any normal person's naked eye could follow. She bared her sharp canines at him. _He's trying to maim me! _Giving a growl, she slashed widly with her kunai knife at his chest – he leapt backwards out of the way, landing on all fours, easily avoiding the three shurikans that spun towards him.

The collarbone was a bone that connected all the muscle on your frontside and backside. If broken, it would render the person useless for several weeks. The upper thigh bone, or the femur, is the largest bone in the human body. If that broke, you would be in major trouble.

The man gave a grin at her, exposing two very long fangs. He twirled his kunai back into his back pocket. "Fifty paces east from the granite rock. Dive into the river. Two am, bring no one." And he vanished.

Moriko blinked. He had dodged her attacks with ease, and though she hadn't been using everything she had in her body, it wasn't everyday that she met someone who could fight a well one-on-one with her. It also wasn't everyday that someone would aim for spots that could disable her, yet not kill. It was obvious to her that he wanted her alone. But why? What for? She barely had time to reply to herself – the rest of her platoon had heard the sharp metallic clangs of the weapons and were rushing over, Shikamaru leading.

"Moriko! What happened?" he asked, slowing to a stop beside her.

The girl didn't know what to say. Slowly, she replied, "One of the killers attacked me. I fended him off."

"Darnit! Why didn't you kill him?" No one asked her if she was alright.

Moriko turned around and headed towards the village, shrugging. "If I killed him, his partner would've killed me on sight. Besides, the one I fought was on even level with me. If his partner is just as good or better, I don't know what would happen."

Naruto opened his mouth to ask her some more when Shikamaru stopped him. "Leave her be."

"Well, I guess that was a success. We don't know where he came from, but at least they're near here." Neji summed up, crouching to face the river.

Shikamaru couldn't help but look back at the girl, who was staring up at the plain blue sky. There was something she hadn't told them. And the look in her eyes ... it unnerved him. There was something different about her ever since they found the footprints at the first village ... why won't she tell him anything? What was going on?

_What should I do...? _Moriko lay on her back looking up at the starry night sky. The other three from her party were asleep around the fire. They had camped under the foilage of the trees near the remains of the village after finding nothing else.

Moriko looked towards her left, where Shikamaru lay sleeping soundly. If this was for the good of the mission, she would willingly comply to the demand of their opponent... but there was a dreading, a feeling that she may never see her friends again if she goes to see the man. The memory of last night's conversation with Shikamaru replayed itself in her mind. Was that all she was afraid of though? Finding out the truth? About her past? Her parents? Her origin?She grasped her head. Why was life so confusing?! She turned around and looked at Neji's pocketwatch – it was one in the morning. Sitting up, she put her palms on the ground between her legs, thinking. Their mission was to find the killers and annihilate them. She could find an opening while she was getting to know them. Besides, she would be alright alone ... and even if she died, no one would miss her.

Her mind made up, she stood up and walked out of the camp. A few minutes later, her kage bunshin took her place by the fire, making it seem as if everything was normal.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: Merry Christmas / Boxing Day! I finally got my cast off and started typing again. Again, I'm sorry for the late update. I have problems with not injuring myself during the basketball season. Hope you enjoy!

The white hair of the young man could be seen from the granite rock that Moriko had first visited. He waited for her to walk until they were a meter apart and then dove into the water silently. Curious, she dove soundlessly in after him.

Moriko surfaced and pulled herself onto the edge of a rocky bank. The man was carrying a torch standing further onward, illuminating the dark tunnel with a soft glow of orange. She stood up and jogged over to him, splashing water over the cavern floor. As she reached his side, she realized with a start that it was not a torch that he was holding, but a ball of flame, similar to the one that she could conjure. She bit her lip, not wanting to break the silence, and not wanting to ask questions that she should not be meddling in with.

As they walked deeper into the cavern, the dark of the cave grew lighter, and the musty smell began to seep away. The orange lights that were bobbing in the air revealed a large open space with a tunnel reaching towards the sky. Moriko stayed at the tunnel's end, surveying the room.

Though it was situated miles underneath the surface of the earth, the room still seemed very homely. The pale orange flames added to the warmth of the cavern, yet, the smoke did not suffocate them because of the chimney-like opening to the surface above them. A neatly built fire pit sat at the bottom of the chimney. To the right of the room was a slab of flat surfaced rock. The white haired man was talking lowly with someone sitting behind it. She ignored their murmuring and continued her observation. To Moriko's astonishment, there was a widespread patch of grass growing on her left. Intrigued, she walked over. She bent down to feel the blades of grass. They were real. Not only that, but the smell of fresh grass and soil were present. Gently, she pressed her palm onto the grass, feeling the soil.

"I see you're accustomed to test soil." A tenor voice spoke behind her. Moriko spun around and stood up, sprinkling the soil back onto the grass. "You want to know how we managed to plant a grassland in a cave?"

Seeing that he meant no harm for now, Moriko shrugged. The man bent down beside her, picking up some of the dirt on his nimble fingertips. He opened his mouth to speak and then shrugged. "Actually, I have no idea. It was already here when we found the cave."

Moriko blinked in amusement and surprise. Who would've thought that she would find someone who could joke around here out of all places?

"Alright." The white haired man sprinkled the soil back onto the grass and stood up. "I guess we should explain ourselves and tell you what's going on."

Moriko stood up slowly and stood a little farther away, feeling a little awkward at the close distance he was at.

The tenor voice spoke again. "I'm Hayato. And that," he pointed to his companion, who was sitting on a rock, playing with his handful of fire again. "Is Tatsuo." The tone that finished the introduction was expectant.

Amused that they didn't know her and yet, wanted to bring her here, she raised an eyebrow. "I'm Moriko."

"Moriko ... that's a pretty name. Forest child, is it not?" Hayato flashed a smile.

She shrugged. "I guess. What's so interesting about that?" Hayato meant falconer, and Tatsuo meant a male dragon. The curiousity to know them more was overwhelming.

Hayato eyed her and grinned when he saw the curiousity flowing from her eyes. He ignored the question and said something else. "Moriko, you want to hear a story?"

The girl frowned, not knowing where this was going. It wouldn't hurt to hear a story, would it? Most likely, it would sate her curiousity. She sat down on a rock. "Sure."

Tatsuo had joined his friend and they both sat down on the grass. Hayato started after some thought. "Around a hundred years ago, a forest in the Fire Country was inhabited by a clan, known as the Intou. The Intou were not well known, in fact, they mostly kept to themselves. Those who found out who they were had to either swear vows that they would not tell others of the clan's existence, or they were killed." He paused to clear his throat, then continued. "The Intou discovered that apart from Bijuu, other animal spirits existed. Of course, they weren't as close to power or evil as the Bijuu, but they added to a nin's power greatly. They found out later, that it not only gives the user power, but the user inherits the traits of the animal, as well as the ability to transform into it at will."

Moriko stiffened.

"So it became a tradition for an animal to be sealed into every newborn in the clan. Animal spirits are plentiful in a thriving forest, so the Intou had no problem finding spirits for everyone. There were some children who inherited the spirit of their parents. However, the inheritance was comparitively weak to ones that were directly sealed into the child, so the elders of the clan decided that even those who inherited spirits were to have new ones sealed inside of them. They stated that, sooner or later, the dominate spirit would take over the weaker one. Of course, there were always exceptions to that statement. Some of the children who had double spirits excelled far greatly than that of a normal clan member. Those kids were given special training and were used more or less as weapons of war or were sent to do extremely dangerous tasks or missions. Because of the strain and the danger of the assignments, most of them were KIA, killed in action. Anyways, ten years ago, one of the clan members decided that it was time for their clan to come out of hiding and join a village to proclaim their greatness. So he skipped back to the village and announced that the Hidden Village of Sand was going to come and 'pick them up'. When the news reached the elders, they were furious. They were a proud clan, and they refused. When they threatened the young man, he claimed that the Sand were already on their way. They killed him and then proceeded to tell the heads of the family to kill their people and then kill themselves. The elders would make sure that none of the secrets would be found by burning the village, and killing themselves in the fire. And so, a foolish clansman and a proud clan wiped itself from the face of the earth. But, the story does not end here." Hayato's eyes flashed. "Three children were scattered before the incident. One was given away after the sealing so that the child would not become a weapon for the clan, another ran away to find another source of power, and the third ran away to follow the second."


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: This might be the last chance I can get to update before I go back to school. I know it's kinda short, but I have two other stories to work on. Haha. HAPPY NEW YEAR! Enjoy. :)

_Three children ... all ten years ago ... _Moriko's core chilled as she realized that one of them was nearing eleven years, the exact age she was. She looked up to see Hayato's turquoise pupils gazing at her and looked away, not knowing what to say.

Her parents ... her real, biological parents. It shocked her to find out that they weren't just normal nin, but part of a clan who could've been the strongest family group to date. Not only that, but to find out how little she knew about her background was amazing. She drew in a breath and asked, "So how'd you know where to find me?"

Hayato crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. "It really wasn't that hard. With the skills that you inherited from our clan, it's obvious that you'd be a top nin. So, we went through all the countries and basically wreaved havoc until you came out to solve it as an assignment." he replied cooly.

The girl's gaze was hard as steel when she looked at her clanmate. "You killed innocent people to find me?"

He shrugged. "They wouldn't have contributed to the society anyways. And besides, we were going to need the room for our clan when we revive it."

"So you though it'd be appropriate to just go ahead and kill all those innocent villagers who minded their own business?" Moriko stood up, shaking from fury. From the corner of her eye, she saw Tatsuo rise from the patch of grass.

A thought hit her and her mouth froze. If she started a fight with them now, it was most likely that she'd lose and she'd have to do whatever they said anyhow. Besides, what did Hayato mean when he said that the second kid ran away to find another source of power? Source of power for what? Wasn't the spirit he had enough? Giving into her curiousity, she asked, "Hayato, when you said that a kid ran away to find another source of power, what'd you mean? Didn't the spirit grant him enough power?"

He gave an amused smile. "Funny you should ask that." He gestured for her to sit down and she backed up onto her rock. "If you haven't figured out already, which I'm pretty sure you have, the three of us are the three kids I mentioned. You were the baby that was given away, I was the one who searched for power," Moriko's eye twitched. "And Tatsuo followed me." he exhaled. "I guess you could say it's somewhat of a long story." He looked to the girl, who gestured at him to continue.

"Intou seals are not as strong as most seals and they break within a time limit, which is usually ten years. When the child nears ten years of age, he is taken away to a remote part of the forest and he waits for his seal to break. When it does, he has to fight with the animal until he overcomes it. After that, the user can summon the power of his spirit at will without worrying about being taken over completely. The battle with your spirit also marks when you are an 'adult'. As soon as you pass, you are able to take on one student of your choice and help them learn to control their spirit before their sealbreaking.

Apart from their spirits, nin also specialized in the three technique areas. Of the three, I had talent for genjutsu. The thing is, I don't like genjutsu that much. Everytime I use an illusion, it's as if I'm trying to cover up for my weaknesses. So," He met her gaze. "I ran away four years after my sealbreaking." he paused here to take a breath.

Moriko took this chance. "Who'd you train?"

Hayato gave a nod to his friend, who dipped his head in acknowledgement.

The girl gave him an assessing look, realizing with a start that she had never observed him from up close. The clothes that he wore seemed to have been made naturally, with a material that looked strangely liked leather ... but it was creamy and more fuzzy. Her eyes grew wide as she realized it was deer skin. Almost everything he wore was made out of the same material – the wide shirt, the capris, the shoes (though the shoes were dyed an earth red). A dark brown belt circled his waist and Moriko guessed that there was a pouch attached to it. A glint caught her eye. She squinted at the necklace that Tatsuo was wearing – it was metal pounded and carved carefully into the twisting shape of a dragon. Moriko blinked it surprise. It looked very realistic.

Her eyes then swept over to Hayato, who was wearing the same clothing, but had an eagle feather attached to string hanging from his neck instead of a metal dragon. "What're the necklaces for?"

Hayato had been following her gaze, amused at how she took such details in her observations. "You'll find out later." he gave a smirk.

Moriko's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean later? I thought this was only a meeting. I was going to go back to my friends."

"Don't you understand why we told you all this?" Hayato stood up, Tatsuo following. "We told you. We cleared lands because we were going to revive our clan. You're the only one we need to do that."

The girl recoiled. He rephrased the idea of 'massacres' very nicely. Not only that but, revive their clan? What?! "Can't you guys get other girls to do that for you?" she asked, half disgusted by the prospect.

"No."

She noticed that he didn't explain why. "If you really want me to ... revive our clan," she winced visibly. "Then you're basically proposing that the kids marry their brothers and sisters." she replied, exasperated.

Hayato's eyebrow raised. "Yes ... what's wrong with that?"

Moriko was horrified, and she didn't bother trying to conceal it. "What's wrong with that?! There are plenty of things wrong with that! Look, if you two find girls that suit you and then revive our clan using the two of you, then it'll be bigger than just having one family." One look at their faces told her that they were inevitably stubborn about this issue. She sighed loudly. "Okay, let's say, I died before I could produce children, then what are you guys going to do?"

The males looked at each other. "Find ourselves women who would help us."

Then Hayato's eyes narrowed. "You're not planning to-"

"I was just saying if." She was about to open her mouth when she saw light on the cavern floor. She looked up through the tunnel roof. It was sunrise.

Hayato seemed to have noticed as well. He walked over to the large flat rock and picked up something from the surface and stuffed it into his back pocket. He fingered his eagle feather. "Well. So that's settled. Let's get going." He leapt up to the bottom of the tunnel and turned so that he was looking down at them. Moriko saw that his fingertips were glowing. Glowing orange.

She shook her head as Tatsuo jumped up to join him, his fingertips illuminating gray. _I am so screwed. _


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: Exaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaams. Yeah. =p. And I still have bball and all this stuff to do.

Shikamaru woke up with a start, realizing that white smoke was floating gently over the campsite. He looked to his right, where Moriko was … he shot up. _She's gone! _

He cast a quick look over the campsight and sighed with relief. _Neji's not here either ... they might be out together. _Shikamaru lay back down and looked up at the lighting sky. _I shouldn't have to worry. Moriko can take care of herself and just showing to the others that I'm worried about her might cause some troublesome assumptions. _

Without warning, Neji dropped beside his mat from a nearby tree, causing Shikamaru to sit up again. He propped his arm over his knee. "What's going on, Neji?"

He waited for a response as his friend watched a flock of birds soar through the morning sky. When they finished passing by, Neji looked at him. "I'm pretty sure you've noticed that Moriko has disappeared."

Shika shrugged in reply. "So what? She probably just went out for a walk or something. She wakes up earlier than the sun does."

"That's not possible. I was up the entire night,"

Shikamaru's eyes widened with surprise. That was not like Neji at all.

His friend continued, "After Moriko described the attacker to us, I couldn't help but wonder if anything was missing. At that investigation back at the second burnt village, there was a trace of wild chakra. When I reported to you guys that everything was normal, her expression was one of relief. This morning, about an hour or two after midnight, she left the campsite and replaced herself with a kage bunshin. It disappeared around half an hour ago," he gave a direct look at Shikamaru. "She's been hiding something from us. And if I have guessed correctly, she ran off with the attacker, which possesses the same type of chakra she does. Simply put, she abandoned the mission and went to find out about herself."

"Alright, enough chit-chat without me. What's going on? What do you mean Moriko went to find out about herself?" Naruto's loud drawl interrupted the tense moment. The other two boys looked at him as he slipped on his orange and black jacket.

Neji sighed and closed his eyes, irritated. He turned to Shikamaru. "Do you want to explain?"

"Heck, I don't know her that well. You do it."

As Neji sighed and began to give an explanation, Shikamaru exhaled loudly and looked up at the brightening sky, realizing the truth to his statement. _I hate life. _

The wind blew leaves around the stilled campsite. Naruto caught a small green leaf between his fingers. "So with Moriko gone, are we still continuing with the mission or what?"

Neji turned around from the birds he was observing. "Whether Moriko is here or not, we're still going on with the mission." he turned away again.

"You think this is okay with a three man team?"

Neji turned around again and sighed. He looked down for a moment, and returned his gaze on Naruto. "When Moriko left the campsite, I activated my Byakugan and followed her trail. She went back to the same place where she was attacked and met someone – a young man of twenty ish. He led her to a river and she followed him. I'm guessing that she went off with them. There's nothing we can do but wait for her to come back, but if she ran off with them voluntarily, she knows she'll be in hot water when she gets back. Anyhow, I contacted Kakashi. He's on his way now. We're going to wait for him to arrive and go check out that river."

Naruto looked shocked. "You're saying ... Moriko ran off? With those ... murderers?" He grabbed Neji's collar and pulled him so that they were staring face to face. "Is that what you're saying?!"

Neji looked away. "Yes."

The Jinchuuriki released his friend and looked down at the forest floor sadly. He clenched his fists. _What are you doing Moriko? I thought you were going to help me find Sasuke. Now you've run off ... just like Sasuke. I swear... I'm going to get you back. I'm not going to let any friend of mine run off without any good reason. _

Shikamaru looked sideways at his dejected did Naruto care so much about Moriko? Unless ... Shikamaru pulled a blade of grass from the ground. He was thinking too much. Ever since Moriko got back, she was in his mind all the time. The things she did ... even with his IQ, he couldn't figure it out.

------

"So what have you done these past ten years?" Hayato asked as he leapt over a branch gracefully.

Moriko eyed his movements – they were like liquid. Hayato seemed to glide whenever he moved. Even Tatsuo moved stealthly, though he was more like a large animal, weaving in and out of the trees. Hayato gave a slight cough and she shook her head. _Right ... play along ... _"Nothing much. The usual ... training, chores, eating, sleeping..."

"You learn anything at the academy that's unique?"

The girl's heart breathed a sigh of relief. He knew nothing about her. "Not really ... my foster parents never let me attend."

"Then how'd you train?" Hayato sucked on a leaf he picked off a nearby tree.

"I met a ninja while he was on a mission and you could say I attracted his attention."

"Ahh...what'd you learn from him?" he pocketed a pinecone.

Moriko shrugged, ignoring the distractions. "Nothing special ... morals, ninjutsu, taijutsu, basic genjutsu, jumping, all that."

"Was he there when your seal broke?"

The twelve year old shook her head. "No."

"Come to think of it, you never told us how that happened. When did it happen?"

Moriko thought back to her travelling years. "I think it was around a year ago. I don't remember it that well. Luckily, no one was around when it happened..." She was half lying, she remembered the breaking vividly, but the exact timing was somewhat blurry.

"What do you mean, 'luckily, no one was around'? How much land did you destroy?"

"Er ... I wiped out an entire forest."

Shocked silence followed as wind whipped through their ears. "An entire forest?!" Hayato repeated, awed.

Moriko sighed. She shouldn't have mentioned that. Now they definitely would want her to stay.

------

"Why the silence guys?" Kakashi ran with the boys towards the river.

Shikamaru glanced at Neji, then back at the senior. "Moriko's gone and that's caused us some problems."

"Like what?"

"Kakashi-sensei, you know what problems. We don't want to talk about it." Naruto muttered quietly in reply.

Shikamaru contemplated silently. It wasn't only him, but the entire platoon was influenced by the girl. Does she know how much of an impact she had on the village? On their group of friends? Does she know how everyone cared about her? The Chuunin shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking of these things in the middle of an assignment. The team was counting on him to think of a plan if they got into trouble. But was Moriko okay...? Shikamaru mentally hit himself._ Stop thinking about her! _

"We're there," Neji leapt towards the granite rock and crouched beside it, activating his Byakugan.

Kakashi was further upstream inspecting broken reeds. "They dove here."

"Ugh. I hate getting wet." Shikamaru complained.

Naruto pulled off his shirt. "We don't have a choice. It's for Moriko."

"It's for the mission." Neji corrected him as he began stripping down.

"Whatever."

------

"Well, we're here."

It was late afternoon – they had been travelling since dawn. Moriko stood at the top of the cliff and looked down, her eyes feasting on the drop. It was a long way down. The vast forest at the bottom looked like green dots. Then she spotted it – brown admist the dots. It was another small village. _They're planning to take me along in a killing raid?! _

"Beautiful view, huh?"

Tatsuo came up behind her. It was the second time the girl had heard him speak. Grudgingly, she had to admit that she liked the sound of his voice. She nodded and continued looking out as if she didn't see anything unusual. "Ah." She paused. "How do you find places like these? I mean, it's like one in two hundred chances that you'd find a place like this, even if you're assigned on a mission around here."

The man shrugged. "Ten years just training gets boring. We like to escape from our duties as well sometimes. Just judging by the way you act around us, you've obviously been travelling too."

Moriko didn't reply. She didn't have to. Her eyes observed him once again and she found herself staring at his hip pouch as if there was something dangerous inside. The green eyes seemed to have noticed her staring. He unbuckled the pouch and took out a strange looking blade. It looked like a halfmoon blade sitting on a small rectangular handle made of black wood.

"What's that?" the girl asked, curious.

He slid the weapon through his hand so that his slim fingers curved over the handle. "Halfmoon zamadar. It's classified as a dagger, but I don't like straight blades. Besides, this covers more surface area."

A sick feeling came over the girl and she looked away. She could sense his amusement and it disgusted her. How could people find pleasure in killing? In killing innocent, helpless, people? She smiled as a thought came back to her.

Kakashi had always said she was too soft. Unless someone gave her a reason for her to kill them, she would never make to kill. Being a ninja means being heartless, but not to the point of inhumane. He'd told her that many times, but she could never get herself to not feel anything for the person she was fighting. Once, in the middle of a practice match, she cut Kakashi across the chest and the bleeding wouldn't stop. Every time she was able to get close to him, she would heal him a little bit. By the end of the match, the wound was nearly closed. She was scolded for that, but she couldn't help it.

What would happen if everything came down to where she had to kill someone or die? At first, her mind answered the latter, but she wasn't so sure she wanted to die. She wanted to see more beautiful places like this. She wanted to stop people from being killed. Moriko lifted her face to the little spark of hope that she was being followed overwhelmed her. _Shikamaru, Naruto, Neji ... wherever you are ... please hurry! _


	24. Chapter 24

"This time, tell us honestly whether or not there's anything around here." Naruto grumbled as he looked around. His bad mood made it seem as if he was another person.

Neji looked around the cave, amazed at the layout. His eyes stopped at the makeshift chimney. Leaping over and balancing himself on the circular opening, he took a closer look at the wall. "There's a couple strange chakra traces here. Looks like they climbed up here."

Shikamaru joined Neji. "I didn't think they'd be this careless. I mean, they target her first, make sure that they don't know what they look like, and they leave chakra traces behind? It's like they want us to follow them."

"Or it's Moriko wanting us to follow them." Naruto replied hopefully. He rebounded along the walls of the chimney and reached the top. "Let's go!"

"Oy! Not so fast! We haven't finished yet!" Shikamaru yelled after him. He looked back at the wall. "So troublesome."

"Three chakra traces. They all have the same making ... but ... there's something about them that's different from normal chakra," Neji said, staring intently at the fingerprints.

Kakashi looked at them from below, allowing them to take control of the mission. He was just here to fill in anyhow.

A piece in Shikamaru's mind clicked as a memory replayed itself. He leapt up to the top of the chimney. "I'm going to look for Naruto."

--------

It didn't take long for all of them to be back at the chimney. Naruto's puzzlement had taken over his bad mood. Shikamaru clung to the rocky surface as he instructed his two teammates. "If I'm correct, the chakra traces are all different colours, right?"

Neji's Byakugan passed over the prints again. "Yeah."

"Which one is purple?"

The Hyuuga pointed to the one farthest left. Shikamaru turned to Naruto. "Your finger should already be stuck with chakra, can you try and draw out a little of your Kyuubi's chakra and imprint it on the wall beside it?"

Naruto looked doubtful. "I dunno. I haven't tried outputting such a little amount, but I'll try." His face contorted with concentration, the two others watched as his hand turned bright red and the air filled with raw chakra. Neji grimaced at the stench. Naruto took his hand off and jumped next to Shikamaru, leaving the space clear for Neji to compare. "That should be enough."

"I'm hoping you didn't overdo it," Shikamaru muttered. "Neji, are the chakra formations the same?"

"Not entirely, but closer to what you'll ever get comparing a human to that," Neji turned around to face Shikamaru. "Which means that they're not entirely human."

The Chuunin stared at the prints as he replied. "That's right. They're all demon carriers."

"What?"

Shikamaru looked down at Kakashi, who was staring at him with slight interest. "They don't know?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No. Asuma only told your squad and that was just the skeleton."

Neji released his Byakugan. "Know what?"

"What do you mean 'demon carriers'?" Naruto asked, half shocked.

The Chuunin looked up at the clouds and gave an exasperated sigh. "Neji, remember when you and Moriko had that practice match and she though you were attacking her for real?"

Neji rubbed the back of his neck. "How could I forget?"

"Remember when chakra leaked from her body and formed a covering?" He waited for Neji to nod. "Remember when the exact same thing happened to Naruto?"

Realization struck the Hyuuga and the Jinchuuriki.

"The comparison between Naruto's chakra prints and hers proved that she is a demon carrier. Whoever she's with now, they're exactly the same as her. And most likely, they're either family members who have finally found her, or clan members."

"The scroll she brought with her before Neji and Tenten came ..." Naruto said to himself.

Shikamaru nodded. "She said she couldn't find another record of the head protector, which means that the clan or village is either wiped out, or it's still hidden."

"If it's still hidden, they wouldn't care about her since there are already so many others to care about." Neji commented.

"Unless she was significant to the village."

"Yeah, but even if she was significant, there is always some other person to take the position of power. So even if Moriko did go missing, there should be someone to fulfill her spot. So the clan has to have been wiped out and they want her back to revive it."

"Moriko wouldn't just go along with something like that!" Naruto stated.

Kakashi leapt up to join them, having heard enough of this about his friend. "You guys don't know anything about her." He jumped up to the edge of the chimney. All three eyes were looking at him, confused, shocked, and hopeless. Kakashi's eyes softened. "But you're right, she wouldn't just go do something like that."

"Then she would've come back." Naruto said more to himself.

Shikamaru gave his comment a thought.

"She couldn't have. When one of them first attacked her, she already told us that she fought on even level with them. There were three prints, which means that there are two clan members with her. If she knew that she wouldn't have made it out alive, it would be sensible not to pick a fight." Neji answered.

"Which means she's in trouble." Shikamaru stated.

"Then it's decided. We're going to get her." Naruto joined Kakashi at the ledge.

Neji opened his mouth to protest.

Shikamaru looked at him. "We find her, we find the killers." he said shortly before joining the other two.

Neji rubbed his neck and leapt up. The platoon moved into the forest, every one of the pumped up.

Kakashi tossed each of them their shirts back as he bounded off a thick limb. His gut was telling him that something was going to happen and he wouldn't like it. The look on Shikamaru's face told him he was thinking the same thing – the faster they got there, the better.

---------

"You didn't think that we'd just sit around and wait for night to come, did you?"  
The two Intou and the girl faced each other, a considerable ways apart. Hayato was sitting on a mossy rock casually rotating a kunai around his index finger. The girl shrugged carelessly. "Was I supposed to expect anything? I didn't know you were left handed." she added, amused.  
He grabbed the kunai and pocketed it. Moriko glanced at the sheath that was held horizontally on his lower back. How had she not noticed that?! Hayato saw her eyes roam to his okatana (an insignificantly longer katana). He pulled it out.  
It wasn't her first time seeing a lengthened katana, but the decorations were traditional-like, unlike the ones she had seen before. The hilt was threaded with a black and white material. A single eagle feather was hung on the end of the black pommel.  
Just like Tatsuo's zamadar, the blade also drew her interest. She blinked – the blade was being held at her throat. The turquoise eyes were fierce. There was a glint of something else though ... amusement? Anticipation? Caution? Moriko couldn't figure it out. It was only when the corners of his mouth began to curl that Moriko made her move, realizing what he wanted to do.  
She sidestepped, rotating around the Intou and pulled out the dagger she had long neglected. It was puny compared to the longsword, but it served her purpose. Adrenaline coursed through her body, causing her hands to shake with excitement at finally being able to parry with someone at the same level as her.  
Hayato seemed to have caught the atmosphere and jabbed at her collarbone, aiming to maim rather than kill. The smirk on his face told the girl that he was rather enjoying the skirmish. She deflected the blade with the flat end of her dagger and watched the tip of the blade miss her skin by centimeters.  
_His movements are insanely fast. I can barely keep up_. Moriko twisted away from a fierce horizontal slash aimed at her side and attacked the base of her opponent's neck with her dagger. She could feel her chest thumping.  
Hayato performed an aerial backflip, fueled by the excitement of the battle and sheathed his blade in a swift and fluid motion. "You fight well." he said shortly.  
Moriko spun the dagger in her palm before she, in turn, sheathed her weapon. She smiled playfully, cheerful from the fun-fight. "You didn't think that I'd be a useless girl who would be incapable of defending herself, did you?"  
Tatsuo walked over to Hayato muttering more to himself than to the two others. "She talks well too."  
The girl managed a chuckle and moved over to the edge of the plateau and looked over at the forest. "I don't usually talk that much." Her fingers ran over the hilt of the dagger as her good mood faded.

The dagger was given to her by Kakashi and was her first real weapon. She hadn't part with it since she received it. The skirmish reminded her of the first time she had a duel with her mentor and she missed him terribly now.

"Hey, Moriko," The girl spun around at the sound of Hayato's voice. "You said you attracted a nin's attention and got him to train you. What do you mean by 'attracted his attention'?"

Moriko raised her eyebrow. Fine time to ask a question like that. She had said that hours ago. "I dunno ... I kinda went after him in a dark forest at midnight. I don't think he was expecting an eight year old to chase anyone through a dark forest at midnight."

"True, but couldn't he have just sent you back?"

"I was practically begging for him to show me a technique."

"So it was desperation?"

Moriko crossed her arms. Why was he so curious to know all this stuff? "Not exactly."

Hayato sat down on the rock. "Indulge me."

Sighing inwardly, the girl replied, "You can basically say he discovered my thirst for ninjutsu." She hated telling people what she was good at – it made her feel as if she was self-centered.

Hayato seemed to have understood somewhat of her concern and he questioned her no more, allowing her to walk away from them until she reached the very edge of the cliff, his turqoise eyes following her figure with slight curiousity, and amusement.


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: I thought it'd be best just to leave the update with this since I probably won't be able to do this again anytime soon.

No matter how many she glanced at the forest beneath her, or the mountains in the distance, or the cliffs surrounding them, Moriko never got tired of seeing it. She heard the silent footsteps of Tatsuo behind her. It was a while before he said anything.

"Don't think too badly of Hayato. He's only doing what he thinks is right for the future of the clan. Besides, he isn't all that bad." His tenor voice had a mix of emotion she hadn't heard from him before.

The girl didn't turn around, but she paused. "I didn't think that a person like you would compliment someone like that." Moriko commented quietly, enjoying the breeze.

There was another pause. "Normally, I wouldn't say anything at all. But Hayato's ... different. He's not like those ambitious, power crazed people. He's a strong and caring person who just wants the best for his clan, even if it means doing things he wouldn't want to do."

This time, Moriko did turn around. Her eyes were blazing and she felt the fire inside her flare. "If killing innocent people is something that he wouldn't want to do, why does he show no emotion when he's doing it? And not power crazed? He told me that he left his own village just because he thought genjutsu was weak!"

Tatsuo returned the gaze coolly. "And you? Why didn't you continue with your genjutsu? When you mentioned what you learned, you only mentioned 'basic genjutsu'. What about that?"

Moriko paused. Such a small detail and he had noticed. What were the two Intou capable of? Was the clan they were from so strong in such qualities? The keenest observation, animal spirits, agility, and strength. She looked at her clanmate in the eye. "What did you come here for, Tatsuo? You normally keep to yourself. What made you so willing to follow Hayato around?"

The young adult looked to the ground and walked over to join her on the edge, looking out at the vast sea of deducious trees. "When I was six, Hayato chose me to become his student. Our village was so small that everyone knew everyone. Hayato was my cousin and I knew that he had successfully passed his sealbreaking. In fact, Hayato was probably my favourite out of all my other cousins. He was smart, brave, loyal, and funny.

"Being a ten year old teacher tested one's patience, but not once did he ever strike or yell at me. He taught me the usual nin skills – throwing kunai, hunting deer, rabbits, birds, setting up traps, overcoming my fear ... you could imagine how much he meant to me."

Moriko nodded slightly. She did understand - it was like her relationship with Kakashi, but it was apparent that Hayato was viewed by Tatsuo more like an idol than anything else. Kakashi was more of a father to her than an idol or a teacher.

Tatsuo continued, nostalgic. "Then it happened - I was meeting him at our usual tree one day when he didn't show up. I waited there from dawn 'till dusk, but he never did show up. Finally, I received the news that he had left, disappeared, without a trace – no doubt from his knowledge about genjutsu. A week after Hayato had disappeared, I was scheduled to have my sealbreaking, but I had no intention of completing it,"

Moriko could only imagine why – having the most important person in his life walk out on him without giving an explanation.

Tatsuo was still talking, unaware of the girl's blankout. "...it was only during the sealbreaking that I decided to steal away and chase after him. And I did," he slowly turned around to look at the girl. "We've been together ever since."

Moriko felt as if she understood more of Tatsuo than of Hayato – he was more human, he cared about someone else other than himself. The cliff where they stood at curved and thinned as it extended over the forest. It was at the tip where Moriko sat down, facing towards the plataeu than the forest. Tatsuo took the hint and sat down in front of her, so they sat face to face. And so, for the first time in her life, Moriko began to unfold the entire story of her life without hesitation. She didn't know why she did it. Maybe out of compassion for Tatsuo, maybe because she felt that he needed to know something about her. Whatever it was, she didn't care. It was the first time that such a large torrent of words spewed from her mouth, but somehow, she felt strangely relieved.


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: I'm sorry for not updating earlier (as I am for most updates, haha). I'm doing my best to finish this one and another short story. Bear with me. Hope you enjoy! :)

"Let's go." Hayato's voice resounded through the darkening sky.

It was just after the sun had descended that they had gathered back to where Hayato had been sitting the entire time. Evidently, it seemed as if he had gone for a run or a hike – as Moriko and Tatsuo walked back towards Hayato, they could see a sheet of sweat glistening on his skin.

Moriko stole a glance towards Tatsuo. His eyes moved, notifying her that he had seen her look. He replied lowly as they walked over. "Hayato went for a hike. It's a ritual. He would work himself until he's at his limit and then come back for the raids, sweating."

_That's vile and disgusting! _The more she found out about Hayato, the more she was coming to dislike him.

The young man nodded a greeting, wiping sweat from his brows as they reached him. He waited until they were about a meter's length away until he spoke. "Tatsuo, you know the routine," he turned to the girl, who returned the gaze. "You'll be watching in for now and you'll join in the raid after the first five minutes,"

Moriko was about to nod when she suddenly remembered something. Tatsou and Hayato had already begun walking towards the end of the cliff – the side closest to the village from their area. She watched with interest as they drew two circles on the ground. Inside one was the contour of a dragon, the other, a hawk.

The sky was shutting its blinds for the day, filling the horizon with a red.

Moriko smiled grimly to herself. _How fitting...a red sky for a bloody night. _

The young men were standing in their respective circles – Tatsuo with the dragon, Hayato with the hawk. In complete synchronization, they removed the pendants from their necks and held it in their left hands, their weapons in the right. They slashed the hand holding the pendant, drenching it in a wave of blood. The crimson liquid was dripped until the contour they were standing on were glistening with red.

The girl felt a wave of horror rush through her on earth would spill their own blood to massacre a village? In the night breeze, she heard the words that were spoken ever so lightly ring with power in her ears.

"Kuchiyose: taka no katagi."

A loud rumble shook the plateau. The contour withinn Hayato's circle grew larger, the blood turning into flames, and the line growing thicker. Hayato was raised, standing on top of the growing drawing. As they soared higher and higher, the drawing solidified, the flames were extinguished, and the fully-fledged form of a nine-meter wide hawk could be seen from even where the other two Intou stood. The bird of prey gave a loud screech and dove towards the village.

Moriko turned back to Tatsuo, who was still to summon his spirit. She saw his mouth open and called out, "Tatsuo! Wait,"

He turned around to face her. The drawing beneath him flared as if annoyed its summoning had been interrupted.

The girl felt foolish. "Have you ever had more than one spirit?"

Tatsuo nodded. "Once. But they're gone now. The only one I have left is this one." He turned back around before she could ask another and spoke his words.

Another rumble trembled the cliff and Moriko walked towards him as he was lifted into the sky, the dragon beneath him growing bigger. The mythlogical creature was a beautiful pine-green and, with its wings, ten meters in width. Now it flapped them gratefully in the air and blew a stream of fire from his mouth, illuminating its sharp teeth. Moriko ran to the edge of the cliff just as it flew towards the village, wings stretched out majestically, nearly knocking her back at the speed they were going.

The valley echoed with the screamings from the village and Moriko saw the first house to go up in flames.

She turned from the screams. _I can't just stand here and do nothing! _Clenching her fists, she lowered her head and sighed in exasperation. Fluidly, she crouched down on all fours, the cries of the villagers echoing in her ears.

* * *

"Mummy!! Daddy! Where are you?"

A little boy walked around bare chested. He was scared; all around him, flames were eating up the houses. Something grabbed his hand and he shouted in alarm, tugging.

"Chiaki, it's me. Stop pulling so I can get us out of here."

The little boy opened his eyes and saw his sister staring furiously down at him. A house exploded on their right, causing both of them to duck in fright. There were screams and people running around everywhere. His sister tugged on his hand again. "Come on!"

Chiaki's round eyes grew wider with fright as he picked up his feet and ran alongside his sister towards the edge of the village, where the smoke was thinner.

Anju moved as fast as her brother would allow her and her eyes moved frantically, looking for open paths that led out of the village. As her eyes ran to and fro both sides of the village, she watched as people caught flames and she saw the charred, burnt, bodies of villagers. Her eyes brimmed with tears of fright and sadness and her shoulders began to shake. What had happened to their parents? And her teacher? And her best friends? Why was their village being attacked?

A hawk's screech connected her thoughts to reality once more and she swiveled around, looking for cover; she had already seen several people dropped from the sky by the creature. The screams in her ears grew louder with the roaring flames and she pulled her brother along towards the edge of a forest, not yet a part of the blazing inferno. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something brown and gray headed towards them. She gave her brother a shove and shouted, "Chiaki! RUN!"

As her brother ran, Anju scrambled desperately, looking for some sort of cover. _There! _She dove towards a smoggy ditch, but it was too late. The hawk had stretched its legs and grabbed her by her middle before soaring upwards again.


	27. Chapter 27

A/N: I know that this chapter's kinda long ... but I had no idea how to separate it. " Happy reading!

Anju opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out but a torrent of horror. From the heights of the sky, she could see the big round eyes of her brother and she prayed that he would not move from his hiding place.

The fear that was caught in the pit of her stomach could not be expressed. Her mind was moving its gears furiously but she didn't know what to think. She could only watch as the hawk soared higher and higher.

They were at about a thousand feet now and it was only then that Anju realized, despite her situation, that the sky was a beautiful place to be. She was able to see the big picture. Instead of being in her chaotic world below, the sky was a peaceful place that showed not only the bad, but also the good. There was a vast forest of trees below them and the mountains in the distant seemed to create a mysterious edge to the scene.

Anju hung her head, closing her eyes._ How ironic. I have seconds to live, and yet, I am up here surveying the beauty of the place where I lived. I had not even known how beautiful my home was. If it were up to me, I'd survive and wander around this area, exploring it and knowing all of its secrets. Yeah ... that'd be awesome... _Slowly, but surely, the girl felt the pressure around her middle loosen. She scrunched herself into a ball as she fell, but not once did she utter a single word or release a single sound.

* * *

Chiaki saw her sister drop from the sky and watched with fearful eyes as she began to drop lower and lower. He couldn't watch what happened.

A gust of wind flew past him, knocking the little boy onto his behind. The impact had caused his hands to fall away from his vision and his blue eyes grew as wide as plates - his sister was safe! But a giant purple wolf had her on her back. It began to head towards him, its long legs covering meters with ease.

Chiaki ran into the undergrowth tripping over a vine. With a panicked yell, he rolled down the slope, crashing into bushes that tore his shirt. A shadow was cast over him and his small hands caught hold of a loose root. There he hung for his dear life, screaming his lungs out.

* * *

Moriko flattened her ears, blocking out the high-pitched scream as she dislodged the boy from his root and put him on her back. Flying through the bushes, she ran away from the blazing inferno and set them down at the base of a rotting log.

The boy had stopped screaming, to her quiet delight, and was crawling over to the unconscious form of his sister.

By the time Chiki had double-checked that she was alive and breathing, he looked up, but the wolf was gone.

* * *

There was a strange sensation that Moriko felt as she ran back towards the village, her sharp eyes scouring the skies for Hayato's hawk.

It was different, this sensation. It was unlike anything that she had ever felt before. She felt content for the first time in her life. She felt at peace despite the flames that threatened to lick her paws.

The peace was short-lived, though, when her topaz eyes spotted the charred bodies of the villagers. Her anger flared again. How could they just wipe out a village mercilessly? Don't they have feelings?!

Moriko turned her head sharply, her ears locating a wheezing noise. There was the quick patter of footsteps and the silhouette of a human appeared through the red smoke. She stood up from her sitting position, the fur on her body on edge.

_Come on... come on ... _

Her tail flew upwards as a hawk's screech rang through the burning village. Its silhouette appeared behind the human's in less than a second, but Moriko was already moving.

She reached the man first and knocked him down, jumping towards the hawk, ready to claw it to pieces.

There was a startled yip as the wolf was knocked backwards onto the dusty ground.

Moriko rolled over and stood up just in time to see the hawk fly away. It wasn't Hayato that knocked her down, but Tatsuo. She growled at the dragon as it landed a foot away from her.

"You should've just joined us. It would've made things so much easier," Tatsuo's voice came from behind the dragon. His voice was almost sorry. "I don't want to fight you."

She snapped at the dragon's feet as it moved towards her. She couldn't see his face – it was too smoggy, but judging by the reptile's expression, she could tell that it was a fight to the death whether they wanted it or not.

The two animals circled each other, neither wanting to make the first strike. Not wanting to let Hayato find the survivors, Moriko grabbed a pawful of dirt and threw it up at the dragon's eyes.

It reared back, roaring in rage as it blew a stream of fire towards the ground. Moriko felt her fur stand on end as she smelt the air beside her burning and pounced, clawing at the reptile's eyes, attempting to blind it. She rolled to the left just in time before three bullets of fire shot towards the spot she was in. Spitting at the ground, she cursed mentally – she had forgotten that Hayato was on the back. Tail low and ears dropped, she returned to her human form, blocking a swipe from the dragon's sharp claws with her arm.

Blood dripped onto the dusty road and the girl jumped backwards, crouching low. She didn't want to inhale too much smoke in her human form. Her heart skipped a beat as she jumped backwards once again, dodging another attack as she ripped her sleeve and tied it around her nose and mouth.

There was another blast of fire to the right and she jumped behind the flames, making them bigger to use as a temporary shield. Her mind reeling quickly, she performed a kage bunshin technique, and two clones appeared behind her.

"You can't hide behind that thing forever."

As the dragon flew upwards, the three forms of Moriko moved: the two clones went left and right while the original leapt towards the creature, holding the utilized form of Haruki.

Tatsuo saw a purple flash and he quickly moved his summon to the side, just missing the chakra blade. His hands grew sweaty as he held onto the reigns of the dragon, maneuvering through the continuous slashes of the polearm. Letting the creature navigate for itself, he turned around, readying himself for another technique.

Moriko saw the Intou change position and adjusted herself firmly to the airstream she was riding on. He was a fire type, that much was clear.

She grinned, wondering if the idea that was forming in her head was going to work. Urging the wind faster, she flew once around the dragon, staring straight into Tatsuo's eyes.

Just as she pulled away, Tatsuo blew his technique from his mouth, "Katon: Karyu Endan!"

Moriko swiped her pole towards the creature, "Rasengan." A smaller version of the original rasengan projected from the tip of the polearm.

The enormous fire dragon whisked towards it. In an instant, they collided, but there was no impact or sound.

The rasengan seemed to have floated the middle of the dragon and was beginning to expand as the dragon shrank in size. Though it was not attached to the user's hand, it had now completely digested the dragon and was still heading straight for Tatsuo.

His mind working quickly, he tilted slightly so that the dragon just missed the small ball in the air. His relief was forgotten as the ball came bouncing back towards him. He tried again, this time doing a series of complicated twists, but to no avail.

Tatsuo looked at Moriko, who was staring back at him, eyes expressionless. His mouth opened as the rasengan collided with him.

All the energy the tiny energy ball had absorbed earlier released, creating a massive explosion in the air.

Moriko's vision turned orange with the explosion as she covered her face with her arm. Her heart had stopped when the explosion sounded – she was very sensitive to loud noises.

The rasengan was what she had been working on the day they were supposed to leave. Moriko was more of a long ranged attacker, and therefore, hated ninjutsu that needed close impact. By attaching a very very thin chakra string to the opponent and to her rasengan, she was able to use the rasengan as a yo-yo. Since only Naruto, Kakashi, and Jiraiya had the knowledge of how to create one, she was in luck. In addition to that, she had added a small twist – the rasengan would absorb any attack its directed at, and, on impact, it would release the energy. Using this simple technique, it saved her time and effort to try and attach an elemental chakra onto it.

From the dark clouds of smoke, Moriko saw something fall towards the ground and she urged her airstream towards it.

It was the battered up form of Tatsuo. He coughed violently as she dropped her staff to catch him. His weight forced her onto her knees and she laid him down onto the airstream, increasing the radius of it – he was in no condition to fight.

"That technique was something..." he muttered with his eyes closed. She could barely hear him even though the air was still.

She felt her heart tug at the sight of someone close to her injured this severely ... especially since it was her doing. The girl smiled weakly and shrugged, not knowing what to say. She saw the corners of his mouth curl slightly into a smile full of effort.

There was no point in telling him not to exert himself. He was dying and they both knew it.

"When you asked ... me about the multiple spirits...," Moriko was surprised he was talking about this, "I don't have any ... but Hayato does. He used to have an otter as well ... but I don't know about now ... if you neglect spirits for too long ... they tend to leave...,"

He put his hand on top of hers, eyes still closed. "And ... about Hayato ... he's been ... hiding something from me ... for the past eleven .. years ... see if you can .. get it out of him ... he really ... loves you ..."

Moriko had flinched at the word 'love' and she stayed quiet, unmoving. They were floating on an airstream in the middle of the air ... she was holding the hand of a fellow clan member that she fatally injured ... and a ruthless, power-hungry man who was nearly twice as old as her loved her?! How messy could things get?!

She looked down, feeling Tatsuo's hand go limp.

Moriko stared in amazement as his body began to incinerate, leaving only a small pile of ashes in the end. As suddenly as the burning, a gust of wind blew the pile away, scattering it over the forest.

The girl stayed where she was, staring out at the vast sea of forest. _Goodbye ... _

It was strange ... but she felt as if she had sprouted wings.


	28. Chapter 28

N/A: Yay! Almost done!!

Sitting on top of the airstream, Moriko soared over the silently burning village, conjuring shots of water to cool down the fire. As she felt the wind hit her face, her thoughts ran wild with her emotions. She just killed the second last member of her clan and felt just as bad as the one who had betrayed the Intou village. Her throat tightened and she shook herself. _Shut up. Don't think, just act. Right now, focus on finding Hayato ... _

Moriko let out a yell in pain as a shurikan sliced her left shoulder open. She ignored the blood and looked at who threw it. It was Hayato sitting calmly on top of his hawk. She growled. Before she could say anything else, he spoke, "Don't think I didn't see it," he began to soar closer. His face was emotionless, his tone ice cold. "You killed him."

The girl clenched her fists. "And is that all you care about? That I killed him? Don't you even care that he died?"

Hayato shrugged. "No. Who gives? It was either me or him."

"So you set him up."

The topaz eyes narrowed. "I wouldn't stoop to such disgusting methods." he spat.

Her fists clenched as she swooped in towards him. "How can you talk about disgusting when you don't care about the people you're killing off for land?!" _Darn it. Don't loose control of yourself ...! Calm down ... breathe ... _

"I'm just doing what I think is best."

Moriko's voice shook. "So you think the best is to massacre villages that you think have no important in this world and use their village area as land to nurture your clan that now only consists of two people."

There was a silence. Hayato looked down, as if he had nothing to say. Moriko was almost sick and tired of even asking the question – she had asked it so many times already.

"Everyone at our village almost always had two or more spirits when they were kids,"

The sudden change in topic alarmed the girl. His voice was quiet, matching the crackling of the wood below them. At the mention of multiple spirits, Moriko's attention was focused once more.

"As they grew older, their personalities and attributes changed, so it limited their spirits and they would end up with one." Hayato said quietly.

The girl's hostility went down as she asked her question. "Were there ever incidents where someone had one main spirit, but had signs of other spirits?"

"One or two, but usually their sealbreaking was too powerful for them and they never survived."

Moriko paused, digesting the statement he had so casually made. "Usually?," she replied slowly. "So what about others? I thought you said before that those with multiple spirits were weapons of war."

He shrugged carelessly. "I assumed; I never talked to other people, so I wouldn't know." His voice instantly changed into an almost sober tone.

Moriko narrowed her eyes. _No more lies ... _ "Tatsuo said you had some sort of secret that you never shared." she said. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have bothered to relay information like that, but it was bugging her. Her airstream swayed gently from side to side, as if wanting to fly her away.

Suspicion immediately showed up in the young man's eyes and he ignored the question. "As an answer to your question earlier, massacring the villages was a chance to test out the summoning technique and, like I said before, it was to find you."

The girl began to feel the familiar rage well up inside of her. "I still can't believe you did all that just to find me." _I can take him. It's one on one ... _

"I had to."

"Was finding me such a priority that you placed ONE life over two hundred other ones...?!" she yelled. "If that's what being an Intou means, then I don't want to have anything to do with the clan!"

Hayato's turquoise eyes blazed. "How dare you say that! After all that I've been through, you dare tell that to me?!"

"And what is it that you've been through?!" Moriko demanded. She felt her lungs burn with anger.

"I betrayed the village!"

For a long time, there was nothing but the pounding of the girl's own heart, the burning fire below them, and the repitition of the four words over and over in her mind.

Hayato repeated it, his voice shaking. "I betrayed the village."

The second time he said it, the girl's world shook. The betrayal, the anger, the ferocity, escaped her in a torrent of red chakra. The raw scent of wild chakra filled the air once more and birds flew from the trees as the fire flared.

Hayato guided the hawk to fly in a circle, watching with amazed eyes as the chakra covered the girl, forming the shape of a tiger. The stripes on her back were a crimson, identical to that of a pool of blood. The fire below them flared once more, threatening to lick the bottom of his summon.

There was a low growl as the topaz eyes of the tiger looked straight into his and he felt a rush of energy through his own veins. This was true power. This was what he was searching for.


	29. Chapter 29

N/A: Er ... I know this one is really long. " Bear with me. I had no idea how to split this one.

Moriko felt nothing but the hotness of her rage pumping through her body. There was no sense of justice as there was when she had morphed into the wolf. This was pure rage, pure anger, pure hatred. Everything was red in her sight but the man that stood before her. This man ... who had caused the death of her parents, the destruction of her clan, and the deaths of two hundred plus people. Power surged through her and she felt as if she could take on anything. All she wanted right now, was to destroy the monster standing before her. She crouched, storing power in her back legs and, without warning, she pounced.

Hayato saw the jump and nudged the hawk to the side, narrowly avoiding the claws of the tiger. The young man was amazed, shocked – he had never seen such power ever before. Even from where he was, he could sense the hatred radiating from its body and the ferocity of the slash; he marvelled. If he killed her, he could use a technique he had developed to obtain her spirit. He gave a smirk, and nudged the hawk to ascend. Without a second thought, the bird kicked at the tiger, who had leapt for its underside with its claws stretched, and flapped upwards, soaring upwards into the dark blue sky. Hayato looked below him, seeing the carnivour get onto its paws from the hit. _It's fast, but its not that intelligent._

At three hundred meters above where the tiger was pacing, the bird of prey turned sharply and flapped twice. Its wings folded and he shot towards the tiger with a screech that echoed through the entire forest.

The feline bared its teeth into a snarl as it readied itself. The red mist in its vision slowed the attack and she leapt upwards as the talons of the hawk scraped a long gash down its back. There was a sizzling as the chakra broke, then another loud screech when the claws ripped open the backside of the hawk, causing it to take flight in panic, ignoring the tiger hanging onto its back.

Hayato spat, enraged at seeing his summon injured. No one had ever layed a hand on it. His hands flew to begin a chain of seals when he doubled over in pain. It was as if someone had taken a spear and tore open his own back.

Perhaps the human form of Moriko would have stopped from the guilt of her conscience, but not the one who was possessed by her tiger spirit. The cat saw none of the pain, but only an enemy and she lunged, claws unsheathed.

The man looked behind him and saw the sharp nails of the tiger and rolled aside with great effort, giving the tiger an extra kick as she soared by. There was a whimper as it fell over the side of the hawk. Hayato put his hand on his back and withdrew it with a flinch – his hands were soaked with blood. Another searing jolt of pain ran up his leg and he watched, in horror, as nothing spliced his leg open. Hayato leaned over the wings of his summoning to find himself staring straight into the topaz eyes of Moriko. She snarled at once and swiped at his face, only to miss and nearly fall off as three shurikans buried themselves into her shoulderblades.

Hayato was heaving from the lack of blood and he leapt off the hawk onto the plateau where they had first arrived, shocked, yet exhilirated – he had forgotten the excitement of an evenly matched fight. Drawing in a deep breath and filling his lungs with the chilly evening air, he turned around, watching the tiger whip its tail, following his every move with the topaz eyes.

"Our parents would have been proud to see their daughter going through a second sealbreaking." he murmured loudly, his turquoise eyes unmoving. He felt the air around him, making sure that his summon had disappeared. He didn't want to be afflicted with injuries from his summon without reason.

Moriko growled. She didn't want to hear any of this; she didn't want to know anymore. Her clearing vision was clouded again and she leapt for him, aiming her claws at his face. Her rage was further raised as she remembered what she had told the two Intou before – that her sealbreaking had destroyed an entire forest when, it had only caused her to kill four ANBU. _I brought this upon myself! _The fire below flared again and she let out a snarl, her anger rising.

Hayato grinned – this was what he had wanted. The display of power was over and he would now take the lead. He spun around, ducking underneath the claws and gracefully sliced the side of the tiger open, spraying blood everywhere. The man watched stonily as the tiger fell over, unbalanced. He sneered as he walked over.

The girl blinked, smelling the blood-filled air. She couldn't move – it was as though he had completely paralyzed her. The chakra covering was slowing fading and she could feel her own human anatomy again. Taking a glance upwards, she could tell that Hayato had a couple more feet to walk and she closed her eyes, concentrating on the nerves that had been split. Remembering the words that the healer had taught her during her time in the Country of Rice, the girl felt a warm sensation overtake her back and she felt the nerves slowly repairing itself.

She opened her eyes and saw the tip of Hayato's okatana. A split second later, she heard his quiet toneless voice.

"Since you have conveniently exhausted your supply of chakra, let's talk this over peacefully," A breeze whooshed over the plateau, adding to the nostalgic moment. Moriko tried to block out the words, but her mind didn't seem to be working properly. "Ten years ago, there was a man who tried to sell the Intou to the Sand. Unfortunately, the Sand were killed by an ambush while on their way there. Somehow, information of the deal leaked out to the village leaders and he was put to death. The Intou still lived in peace after that, but there were always some conflicts inside the village. The villagers," Hayato's voice grew loud, seemingly vengeful. "Played favourites. They would discrimate others for the spirits that they had, and perhaps even their personalities. I was teased, shunned and neglected all my life. Even when I had my sealbreaking, I thought everyone would accept me for who I was when I passed it, but it was worse – they acted as if I didn't exist. Even my own parents were too busy to care for me because they were busy with six others. When I received Tatsuo as an apprentice, the others discriminated him as well. I would accidentally walk in on a play session and find a group of other apprentices whipping him or throwing stones at him. I even had to beg the elders to let him have a part of the forest for his sealbreaking," Moriko stole a glance at her fellow clan member and was amazed to see him looking upwards towards the stars that were appearing. He looked so sad; his voice brought her back to the story, the true version of the history behind the Intou. "The incident with Tatsuo enraged me the most and it brought me over the edge. I spent the next several months trying to extract the spirit from me, trying to do what the Akatsuki were trying to do, but without killing myself. Two weeks before Tatsuo was due to have his sealbreaking, I did it; I invented a way to safely extract my spirit and control it. It was then that I left the village," Hayato paused for a breath and looked at her, face ashen as he was reminded of his terrible deed. "The night that Tatsuo was assigned for his sealbreaking, I covered my face and summoned my spirit. It was then that I brought devastation to the village. I fled after that and no one ever found out the truth about the disappearance of the Intou. Tatsuo believed that it was the man who betrayed the village and he never knew of what I did. So," the insanity in his eyes lit once more. "Now that you know, it's not possible for you to go around and tell others. Besides, you were supposed to stay with me anyways."

The girl grabbed her kunai, feeling the tip of the blade cut her cheek as she rolled over and she threw it. Hayato moved his head, smiling with satisfaction as it missed him by centimeters from where his head just was.

"Oh? You can still move?" He asked as he pulled his blood-crusted blade from the ground.

Moriko panted – her chakra was very low, but the wound on her side had healed well enough for her to move. She looked up, eyes determined. "I'm surprised **you **can still move." She grit her teeth as he appeared behind her, the blade at her throat.

"And why wouldn't I be able to?"

There was a clang of metal as dagger parried the okatana. Moriko knew she was at a disadvantage – she had dropped Haruki on the airstream when she had picked up Tatsuo and she only had one kunai knife left in her pouch. Delivering a swift slash that Hayato dodged, she twisted out of the hold.

The girl felt blood in her mouth as she bit her tongue while parrying a swipe from behind. Her mind raced furiously as she thought of a plan while ignoring the sharp clangs of the weapons. Her eyes judging the distance from the two sides of the cliff, she felt something click in her head._Got it.! _With her last reserve of energy, she parried in a circle, making sure that it didn't seem as if she was doing anything suspicious and jabbed three times inside it at her opponent, dragging her foot behind her. Ducking underneath another slash, her heart raced as she leapt out of the circle, performing a series of seals that not even Hayato's eyes could follow. _Come on ..._ she gritted to herself, _work! _

Hayato didn't even have the chance to scream before he was pelted with needles from every possible direction.

The wind howled loudly as the technique progressed. For Moriko, who had leapt onto a rock to watch, it was the longest thirty seconds of her life before she released the ninjutsu and fell onto her knees, dropping her weapon with a clang, exhausted. _Finally! _

For a moment, there was a relieved pause, then her eyes widened with pain as her entire back exploded in a torrent of blood.

Just before she hit the ground, she heard the sound of a body thud beside her and she looked – it was Hayato.

Moriko opened her mouth, but a bloodied finger stopped her. Hayato was worse off than her, but his expression seemed to hold too much for her to protest. "I was clearing land to start a new clan," he was breathing like the bellows and sucking in breath greedily, "And now you know why," he looked at her. "I killed off the previous one. What else could I do? Tell me, what else could I do?"

He looked so desperate, the girl couldn't do anything else. The hatred that she bore before was forgotten and she pushed herself up with extreme effort, giving the Intou a blank look. "Why couldn't you just live your life like a true Intou instead of destroying everyone else and tainting its reputation? It just doesn't makes sense."

Hayato's eyes closed. "I don't know ... it just ... seemed right at the time I suppose... what would you do if you wiped out your own village?"

The girl shook her head slowly, realizing that she had no answer. What would she do...?

The remaining Intou opened his eyes, staring at the starry sky. "Moriko, there's one thing I want to ask of you. It'll be the first and last thing I'll ask from family. Please..." He was whispering now and they knew that he didn't have long.

_Family... _she closed her eyes. The girl knew it would come down to something like that. Why her?! She opened them and nodded. It didn't matter anymore; it was the last chance for her to do something for her family as well. "What is it?"

Hayato turned to look at her. "Kill me."

The girl blinked. She understood. She understood his pain, his guilt ... but she couldn't ... already having killed a clan member, she would have to kill him too? No! "No."

As if she had said yes, he grabbed her hand, placing the dagger onto her palm. He placed the point above his heart. "I'd rather die by your hands than by anyone else's," he smiled faintly, "Goodbye, little sister. Our parents would have been proud of the way of life you've chosen; and never let anyone tell you otherwise. That's a fact." Moriko couldn't bear to watch; she squeezed her eyes shut. As his hand went down, Moriko felt something fall onto her lap. It was only after the dagger fell from their hands that she opened her eyes.

_Little sister ... _

Tears fell from her eyes. She was sorrowful, that was given ... but her heart; it felt as though someone had taken a hundred pounds of gold from her chest and freed her. It felt as though that cage she had been in for so long; the cage that had held her to her past, the cage that burdened her with thoughts about her biological family, the cage that prevented her from being the person she truly wanted to be, had finally been smashed; she was able to fly.

Her eyes closed again as blue chakra leaked from her, filling her with energy and she felt herself being lifted up into the sky. The wounds she had attained no longer hurt, but it was the last thing she thought about. The first and foremost thought in her mind as she soared through the night sky was, _I'm free!_


	30. Chapter 30

A/N: I know that I don't update as frequently as before, but I'm planning to finish this as soon as possible so you guys won't have to frustratingly wait long for each chapter. XD. Happy readings. And many thanks for those who gave me constructive criticisms. :)

The sun had just begun to rise when the platoon arrived at the scene of the wreckage. The air was still and the smell of burnt wood was strong. Haze from the fire had created a light cover of mist over the village and smoke rose from some of the houses.

Naruto rummaged through a pile of charred wood. "I think we were just slightly late." he grumbled.

"Well, there's no way she could've died from a fire. Keep looking." Neji replied, Byakugan activated.

"Easy for you to say, you don't have to get your hands dirty."

"Shut up. There's raw chakra everywhere. It's hard enough trying to figure out where it leads without your complaining." Neji commented dryly. His mouth opened for another sentence when he clamped it shut and began to pace over to a small pathway nearly concealed by broken tree branches.

Shikamaru watched as he walked past while Naruto and Kakashi stopped their search. Naruto threw down a piece of burnt wood as he called out, "Oy, Neji, what is it?"

The Jounin did not turn back nor reply. Instead, he dropped into a ditch and looked around. The others followed and saw him jump out and hurriedly walk towards the forest. The Genin was irritated. "Oy, Neji!"

A sudden shriek fast-forwarded their movements.

As they bounded onto the scene through the foilage, they spotted Neji, who was holding the end of a cream-coloured staff while trying to avoid being kicked by two children; a boy and a girl, both of whom seemed extremely frightened by the sight of his kekkei genkai.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, isn't that-?"

Naruto's question was cut short when he realized he was talking to empty air – Kakashi had already walked over to them and had pulled the staff from Neji's grasp. He turned to the two little kids. "Where did you get this?" There was a slight tone of emotion in his voice.

Anju's shoulders loosened as she saw the distance he had created between them and Neji and she relaxed. She kept her brother close to her as she pointed behind her. "I dunno. It was stuck in some branches. I thought it looked nice, so my brother went to pick it up to use it as a walking stick. We were walking back to our village when he knocked into us." Anju was glaring at Neji, who had released the Byakugan. Chiaki was staring up at Kakashi's silver-hair with his big, round eyes.

Shikamaru ran through what the girl had told them, spotting the beams from the sun peek through the thick canopy of leaves. He turned to the younger brother. "Did you have to climb for it?"

Chikai nodded.

The Chuunin turned to Kakashi. "I'm guessing that it fell from the sky, which means she was fighting on higher ground." he said lowly, not wanting to be overheard.

Kakashi nodded. "Neji, can you see if there's anything above ground level around this area?"

As the Hyuuga scanned the area, Anju asked curiously, "Are you guys looking for someone?"

Naruto stepped forward, a friendly look on his face. He knelt down to talk to the kids. "Yeah, we are. Have you two seen a girl with black hair and purple eyes?"

Anju thought for a while, then shook her head. "No."

All was still for a moment before Chiaki blurted out, "There was a giant purple wolf that saved my sister!"

At once his sister chided him. "Chiaki! Don't say things that aren't true and unnecessary!"

Despite her doubt, they all had the same thought – the big purple wolf was Moriko for sure.

Heartbeat thumping, Shikamaru looked at Neji, who's eyes were slowly retracting. _Asking them which direction she went would be pointless. _"Neji, what'd you find?"

The Jounin shouldered his bag. "There's a plateau to the east of where we're standing. That's the only place that's near here above ground level."

Naruto stood up, hopeful. "Great, let's go!"

Shikamaru turned to the two children and spoke, "Listen, just stay here for a while. Once we're done, we'll come back for you."

"Why can't we come with you?" Anju asked. Her eyes were moving nervously all around.

The nin sighed. "You just can't. Besides, there hasn't been fighting here for a while already, right?"

Chiaki nodded as Anju looked unsure.

Naruto turned around and gave a huge smile. "You'll be okay. We won't be gone for long."

At last the little girl gave a sigh and nodded. She took her brother by his hand and they walked back into the undergrowth. Kakashi twirled the staff once. "The quicker we finish there, the quicker we can guarantee those two are safe."

The air was tense as Neji took the lead.

A dragging feeling was taking place at the bottom of Shikamaru's gut; he didn't like it. He was apprehensive, but there was some of him that didn't want to know what was up there. The Chuunin cast a quick look over the moving platoon; Kakashi and Neji both seemed unmoved by the situation; Naruto, however, had his fists clenched as if he wanted to punch a hole through something.

"Hey, Naruto, Shikamaru, keep up or we're gonna leave you behind." Kakashi's voice broke through his thoughts.

Naruto took a long jump, taking his place beside Neji. "You're not gonna leave me behind." He leapt for a second time and sped towards the growing plateau.

The Hyuuga called out behind him, "Naruto! Stay with the group!"

But the blonde-haired nin was already a speck in the distance. Neji sighed hopelessly as Shikamaru gave a grim smile. At least Naruto was all up for finding out what lay at the end of the trail...

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"I don't think we're going to find anything else up here, Naruto." Shika said, a while later.

They had arrived at the plateau and to his relief, there were only marks and puddles of blood; no bodies.

Naruto was undaunted and kept pacing around the cliff as if he knew there was something missing. "I'm not giving up. There's something strange about this place."

Neji had knelt down beside two large crimson prints further into the plateau and he beckoned to Shikamaru. "What do you make of this?" He asked quietly.

Eyebrow raised, the Chuunin bent over the prints, studying them for a while before answering. "Obviously, the smaller one is Moriko and the larger one belongs to the clan member. They're both severely injured, but then, the clan member turns over as Moriko sits up," he gestured to the handprint and to the darker spots in the prints, "Something happens, and judging by the puddle, our killer was pierced through the heart," straightening, he put his hands behind his head, "That's all I can tell ya."

Neji looked back to the print. It made sense ... "But then, where did the bodies go?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "I don't know." Frankly, he didn't want to know.

"What about that other clan member?"

"I think I have an answer to that question." Kakashi's voice came from even further into the plateau. The three of them rushed over. As they did, they were able to make out a circular diagram with three wavy lines in it, drawn hastily across the ground.

"I haven't seen that before. What is it?" Neji asked, his eyes fixed upon the drawing.

Naruto's voice shook slightly as he replied. "Moriko's original technique. She showed us before she left. I didn't think she'd actually use it. It's disgusting."

"Kakashi-sensei," Shikamaru's voice broke through the still air. He pointed at the crimson blood splattered across the rocky terrain. "The print that came out from the diagram leads to the print next to her over there. They're the same person."

Naruto turned in disbelief. "No way! No one could've survived that!"

"Naruto, calm down. Right now, anything could be a possibility." Kakashi stated calmly. There was a silence. "Well, we're back at square one. If there's nothing left to find here, let's go back down to the village." He began to walk towards the edge when Shikamaru, who was right behind him, stopped suddenly. He bent over to pick something up from behind a tan boulder.

"What's that?" A loud voice asked.

The Chuunin flipped the object over. "A head protector." He didn't want to say too much. Naruto could get very touchy if he revealed any more. As Naruto's fingers reached to grab it, Kakashi, who had sensed Shikamaru's intentions, took it instead and pocketed it without glancing at it. Neji walked past all of them, feeling somewhat irritated.

"Let's go." he said bluntly.

Quietly, they descended back towards the remains of the village, the atmosphere just as gloomy as when they had come.


	31. Chapter 31

A/N: Happy readings! :)

They couldn't find her ... they wouldn't be able to find her ... the thoughts kept running through Shikamaru's mind as they head back. What if they never did? _Shikamaru, stop acting so rash. You're not thinking straight. Pull yourself together. You hardly know her! Think about when Asuma – _His thoughts cut off, feeling the familiar sense of grief. _Why is this so hard?!_

He felt a hand on his back and turned around, dazed and somewhat surprised. It was Kakashi, giving him a reassuring look.

"Anju! Chiaki!" Naruto's voice could be heard in the background, calling for the two kids.

There was no response, and then a faint crashing of bushes could be heard.

The platoon stood there for a while before Anju, panting and sweating, came to a halt in front of them.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Her hands on her knees and her head bowed, she put up a hand as she panted, unable to speak. "We...we ... found ..." she went on to pant, regaining her breath.

After a while, she stood up, exhaling loudly. "Whew, sorry," Her gaze met Naruto's. "We found her; the girl you're looking for. She's back with Chiaki."

There was a stunned silence. Anju had already moved. "Come on. I'll take you guys there," She looked back, seeing the unmoving platoon. "Are you guys going to come or what?"

Neji gave a glance at the three of them. "Yeah, we're coming. Lead the way."

There was an unexplainable joy that hit both Kakashi and Shikamaru when they saw the girl lying on the mossy floor of the forest. It didn't matter to them that she was sweat-covered, nor that she was filthy; they were content with just seeing her alive.

Neji crossed his arms as he watched Kakashi kneel beside her to check her pulse. "We should have brought a medial nin with us."

"She is the medical nin." Naruto commented quietly.

The Jounin raised an eyebrow at him.

It was at that moment that Kakashi turned around, the girl in his arms. "We're going back to Konoha."

No one dared to object. It was clear that the battle was over and that their mission had been finished ... by one person.

The air was silent for a moment as mixed feelings ran through everyone present. A bird chirped from somewhere in the trees. There was a tug on Naruto sleeve. He looked down to see Chiaki, with Anju behind him. "Can we come too?" Chiaki's quiet and shaking voice asked.

Naruto smiled. It was the least they could do for the survivors of the massacre. "Sure," he turned to Neji, "Can you take Chiaki?"

The Jounin nodded and Chiaki headed timidly over, nearly tripping on a tree root.

Relief flooded Shikamaru as they made their way out of the forest, sunlight hitting their faces. After all the emotional toil, they were finally going back to Konoha. Maybe he could get his head straightened out there.

He looked over at Kakashi; his face showed nothing, but there was a sense of urgency that radiated from him.

Shikamaru's gaze turned towards the unconscious girl in his arms and looked away, unable to control the pang of something that hit him.

"Shikamaru-kun," Anju's voice came from his right. The nin looked over. "It's okay. I'm sure she'll be okay in the end," she gave a quick smile.

Somewhat confused, he answered, "Thanks, Anju."

They continued in silence for a while before she asked, "Are you two siblings?"

"Shikamaru and I?" Naruto asked, wanting to talk. He had been silent for almost an hour; something that was hard when he was in a joyful mood.

Anju shook her head. "The girl and Shikamaru-kun."

Naruto laughed. "No, they're not. What makes you ask that?"

"I don't know. The way he looks at her reminds me of myself when Chiaki's hurt."

The conversation between her and Naruto faded into Shikamaru's background as he pondered on what she had said. Did he really think of her as a sister? He hardly knew her. He had to admit, though, he didn't feel any attraction towards her; most of it was protectiveness.

The Chuunin sighed, seeing a cloud in the blue sky.

For now, he just longed to go home and play a round of shogi with his father.

* * *

Naruto stomped down the silver hallway of the Konoha hospital, his voice echoing loudly. "Shikamaru, you've been there for two days already, get over it. She'll be fine."

The Chuunin had been sitting outside a small room, his head leaning against the wall looking upwards. He said nothing.

Naruto refused to give up. He stood up in front of his friend, about to open his mouth.

"It's okay, Naruto. I'll take care of this."

The blonde-haired nin turned around and his mouth widened into a smile as he saw his sensei walking down the hall towards them. About to open his mouth to speak once more, Kakashi gave him a stare and the teen walked back down the hall reluctantly.

Shikamaru had not said anything, but closed his eyes. He didn't have anything good to say, but he wouldn't leave, either.

Gloom returned to the hall.

"Shikamaru," Kakashi's voice was the only noise that reached the Chuunin's ears. He gave no sign that he was heard. "You know that Naruto is right. She will be fine." When the teen gave no reply, Kakashi sighed and grabbed his arm.

"Hey-"

"Come with me. We need to talk."

* * *

Moriko's face was warm and she was lying on something soft. Her mind was foggy and she couldn't think.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and the hospital wing ceiling swam into her view. Squinting, the girl rolled over onto her side to avoid the bright sunlight.

Something in her slow mind clicked and her eyes snapped open as she bolted up, ignoring a jolt of pain that ran up her side.

There was a window that shed some sunlight on the dim hospital room. Moriko looked outside, feeling a cool breeze hit her face. Birds were singing their afternoon song and the sky was cloudless. A glint from the windowsill caught her eye and she leaned towards it, curious.

Without warning, her side and her back exploded in pain and she fell forwards from her bed.

Moriko felt her fingers curl around something rectangular and hard and there was a clang as it hit the concrete floor. Unbelieving, she felt her heart vibrate soundly from the pain and waited it out, stil lying on the cold ground.

Using one hand to clasp her side, the girl looked at the object painfully and she felt her mind freeze – it was a head protector, identical to the one in the scroll she had found in the Country of Rice.

Slowly, she propped herself onto the side of her bed and inspected the engraving on the plate, tracing the pattern with her finger. The shock was slowly filled with wonder and curiousity. Her brows furrowed as she felt stitching on the back of the pine green cloth. What more surprises were there for her?

Another breeze came in through the window as she turned it over. Moriko felt her throat tighten as she read the sentence. "Start again with no shame."

Her mind spun. _Hayato couldn't ... how ...? What? _

The purple eyes turned back to the stitching. It wasn't possible that Hayato could've sewed it; but if he made his own clothes, how could he not have sewed something as simple as that?

Moriko brought the stitch close to her eye and inspected it.

It was old and worn out, so it couldn't have been Hayato who sewed it. _Besides, I never saw him wear a protector. _Her mind rewinded what he had said to her: he had left because he didn't like how the village was treating him and Tatsuo. He said that his parents didn't care, but Moriko wasn't so sure about that. Somehow, a little tug in the gut told her that the only person who would've sewed something like that would have been Hayato's mother, telling him to start again with Tatsuo. No doubt she had no idea about how grim her future would've been or she wouldn't have written something like that.

Another wave of anger rushed through Moriko and her hands clenched the protector.

Footsteps sounded outside her room and, within a blink of an eye, she was back underneath her covers, eyes closed. She could feel the cold metal against her leg.

_Hayato's mother ... was my mother. _Her real biological mother. And her biological family was gone. They were gone, but she knew that they were satisifed with the life she was living. For a split second, doubt entered her mind, twisting her stomach. Her eyes clenched shut. _Why shouldn't they be proud of me? I"m living the life that they lived ... the life of a nin. _'Start again with no shame.'

All this time, up until she met her friends from Konoha, her life was lived as if she had no family, as if she had no point in the world. What did it mean to her if she started again?

She knew the history of her family; she knew the history of her clan. There was much to be ashamed of ...

It was then that her mind realized, with a start, that no noise came from outside her door anymore. Debating whether or not to throw her covers back, the doorknob twisted and silver hair was the first thing to show up from the doorway.

Unexplainable joy exploded from Moriko's stomach, but she kept still, feigning sleep.

The footsteps walked towards her and stopped at her side. There was a small amused exhale and then Kakashi's low voice sounded in her ears. "You can stop faking, it's only me in the room," when Moriko gave no sign of movement, he continued talking, the amused tone still in his voice. "Come on, kid. I don't have that much time."

As if on cue, Naruto burst into the room and asked, "Is she awake?"

"Yeah."

Indeed, Moriko had sat up, one hand still clenched on the protector underneath her covers while the other rested on top of the white blankets. Kakashi returned his gaze to her as Naruto walked up to the side of the bed, sporting a wide grin. He didn't know what to say.

"What's the ruckus?" Shikamaru's voice sounded from the entrance.

"Moriko's up!"

Shikamaru said nothing until he stood beside Naruto. He raised an eyebrow, grinning. "Hello."

The joy that was welling up inside the girl exploded and she gave a hearty laugh before replying. "Hello."

Naruto leaned forwards on her bed rail. "So! Tell us what happened."

Moriko looked down, smile fading. She didn't know where to start or how to start. In complete honesty, she didn't want to start. But her friends had saved her and it was the least she could do. Inhaling slightly, she looked back up, beginning in a mumble. She began from when she had snuck out of camp, feeling somewhat guilty.

It was strange. Even the hyperactive Naruto said nothing throughout her sharing.

By the time she had finished, her voice was hoarse and she didn't want to talk at all. It was silent for a while and then a thought struck her. "Where's Neji?"

Shikamaru put his hands into his pockets and said in his monotone. "You've been asleep for nearly a week. He was called out for a mission a couple days ago."

The busy life of a nin never ceased to amaze her.

She smiled to herself at the thought and looked at Kakashi. "So what's your side of the story?"

The Jounin folded his arms. "Not much. We tracked you after you left, got to the village a little late, found you on the cliff, picked you up and left."

"Uh huh," Moriko raised an eyebrow and nodded her head towards the cream coloured staff that was leaning in the corner of her hospital room. "That would explain Haruki's being here after I dropped him from my airstream, would it?" She gave a look at her teacher.

Kakashi gave a sigh. "We have more than enough time to explain things," he also stuffed his hands into his pocket. "The Hokage wants to know what you're going to do."

The girl was confused. "What do you mean...?"

Her sensei looked her in the eye, his voice serious. The sunlight in the background did not at all improve the mood that settled in the room. "To put it simply, you choose between the Intou or Konoha."

Naruto leant forwards on her silver bed rail, not even blinking as the sun's ray shone onto his face. "You're staying right?" There was a sense of urgency and anxiety in his voice.

Moriko said nothing, only to take out the head protector from underneath her covers. Her slender fingers traced over the village crest, her palm feeling the stitching from the cloth underneath. Her mind was spinning.

Naruto was yelling in the background. "-what?! Baa-chan said that she could stay!"

"That was before she got in contact with her clanmates."

"What difference does that make?!"

Shikamaru was trying to conceal his anger. "She knows all about her clan. It's her choice to continue with being part of her clan or choose to be completely devoted to Konoha. You know as well as I do that Konoha only needs nins that have no second thoughts about their loyalty. If we force the responsibility of the village on her-"

"We spent so much time getting her back and you're going to let her walk away?!" Naruto was yelling now.

"Naruto," Kakashi's voice rose above the teen, his eyes furious. "It's her decision, stop nagging."

But the blonde-haired teen would not give up. Moriko had had enough. The familiar sense of cage bars began to surround her again. "Guys, shut up!"

There was an instant silence at the extreme coldness of her voice.

The girl exhaled loudly, sick of the arguing. She had lost control twice in a month and the situation she was in wasn't helping to decrease the throbbing that was coursing through her body.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Naruto open his mouth and she spoke before he could say anything. "Naruto, just, cool it. Please." For the first time in her life, she was begging someone to do something for her. How much lower could she stoop?

Without replying, the nin stormed from the room with Kakashi following. The Jounin gave a glance at his pupil before leaving through the doorway. Shikamaru turned, his hands still in his pocket. "You're bleeding, so take it easy."

When the hospital room door shut, Moriko turned so that she faced the window, letting the warm sunlight hit her face. She exhaled once more, aware of the importance of the decision she had to make.


	32. Chapter 32 ending

The sky was still dark when Moriko awoke for the fifth time that night. All was still and she rolled over noiselessly to find that the window curtains had been drawn. Feeling a restlessness inside her, she blinked several times before throwing the covers from her hospital bed.

Stars were dimly announcing their existence as the crescent moon shone among them. The breeze was still present and the girl leaned over on her window, watching the cherry blossom tree outside her window sway with the wind.

She looked below the window sill and smelt the crisp smell of daffodils.

There was no clock in her spacey room, but Moriko knew that only an hour or so remained until dawn approached. She sighed, turning back into the room. There wasn't a lot she could do, and her mind was too full to let her sleep.

Moriko ran over her thoughts, hoping that she could convey them properly.

Grabbing Haruki from his corner, she placed him onto the hospital bed. Might as well do it as soon as possible.

Her mind reeling about what she had to say, the girl scrounged through the room, looking for her normal clothes, only to find them folded and stacked neatly in a cupboard not far from her bed. Throwing off the white hospital gown, she donned on her outfit and walked to the window, sliding it open as wide as she could with one hand; the other held Haruki.

The sky was already lighter that it had been twenty minutes previous and Moriko wasted no time. With one last check, she made sure that the Intou head protector was stowed safely within her hip pouch; the only bag she carried, and leapt effortlessly onto the windowsill, breathing in the brisk morning air.

Through the top of the trees, the girl could just make out the Hokage monuments in the distance. Without so much as another thought, she leapt onto the branch of the cherry blossom tree and tied Haruki onto its sash. Slipping it over her head, the girl saw that her hands were trembling.

A bird sang somewhere through the trees.

Tearing her gaze from her hands, Moriko bounded off onto another tree branch. _The sooner I get this over with, the faster I can have my own life. _

_

* * *

_

Tsunade couldn't sleep. Her mind had been on Moriko's predicament the entire week she had come back. The Hokage had known that this decision would have to had sooner or later been made, she just wished that could've been a better timing. The woman turned from her desk and stood up, looking out the window at her waking village. In an instant, she had turned back around to look at the girl who was standing outside her doorway.

"May I come in?"

Tsunade was surprised – the girl had used her chakra dry and expected her recovery to be at least a month long, yet, she was already normal in a week. The tone in her voice was strong, but calm. The Hokage put her hands on her hips. "Ah. Close the door behind you."

As the door shut behind the girl, there was a silence.

Moriko felt a strange wave of mixed emotions wash over her as she walked over. The only thing she knew for certain, was that she did not know how this was going to end.

The Hokage had her arms crossed and was towering over the girl though separated by a desk. "So," Her tan coloured eyes were hard. "What happened during the mission?"

The girl was surprised; she had only come to give her decision. Hadn't Kakashi told her what had happened? "Hasn't-"

"He only told me their side of the story. And I daresay, before I make any decisions or judgements, I should hear yours. I thought it would be better for me to hear it personally."

Moriko dropped her gaze. She didn't want to go through the emotional and mental pain once more, but if this was what it took to clear everything ... then...she took a breath and began to talk.

* * *

The clouds had begun to break when Moriko had finished, her voice once again hoarse.

There was a silence as Tsunade turned around to watch the bright rising sun. "Have you come to your decision yet?"

Moriko hesitated before answering, her heart pounding. "I have." she replied slowly.

The tan eyes turned around again, piercing into her mind. "I'm listening."

Moriko closed her eyes, summoning up her courage. "I have decided to keep my identity as an Intou." she declared.

There was a shocked silence before Tsunade found her voice. "And what of Konoha? The village you grew up in?"

"You misunderstood me," the girl gave a small smile. Surprisingly, her voice was not shaking like her shattering insides. "Tsunade-sama, the Intou is just as important to me as Konoha is. I've been searching and searching for my heritage for three years. I've been looking for answers to who I really am, of why I am who I am today. It was through the mission that I found it. I spent all my years, up until now, wondering if I could live a life that was worthy for me, that would be worthy to my biological parents. I know that my adoptive parents just wanted to keep me safe. And I understand why they never wanted me to become a nin; it was so that I could never find out the horrible truth about my past. But I have, and the past is undeniable, it's not something I can change. But what Hayato said to me, and how Tatsuo was completely devoted to his clan, that's something I want. After all this time of searching, I can't just give it up. I can't. I have thought long and hard about this, but I simply couldn't come to another conclusion.

"Konoha is ... like home to me. There are many memories here for me; good ones, as well as bad ones. But life, as I've found out, cannot just be all good. We experience the bad to learn from them; to grow and mature. But it's always up to us how we see them," Moriko look a breath as she looked out the window to the pink sky. "Hayato told me that our parents would have been proud of me; of the life I'm living now. And I think that he would be alright with whatever choices I make as long as I don't make the same ones he did. I just wish that he could have made some better choices." Her gaze returned to the woman standing before her.

Tsunade crossed her arms. "It would be much simpler if you had just asked to be part of Konoha while keeping your Intou name."

"That would not be enough for me."

There was another silence. "You know that this goes against all village rules, right?"

"I am aware-" Moriko stopped talking - Tsunade was smiling broadly at her. "What?"

"I am very glad that you were able to come to a final decision on your own. And I am glad that you understand the importance of your heritage. You may keep your protector and while you're here, Konoha is your home and a refuge," The Hokage looked into the purple eyes. "I'm sure everyone will be glad to see what you made such a wise decision. And," Moriko had opened her mouth. "I think your family would have been proud of your decision as well."

Moriko was speechless with gratitude. It was as though the spirits she had were leaping with joy. She bowed her head once as a gesture of thanks.

The woman laughed at the formality. "Go on, get out of here, I've got a load of paperwork to do."

Not even seconds later, the door had snapped shut.

Instead of returning to her desk, the Hokage looked out the window at the sun, who was shining its rays on the village. Streets were already being walked and there were kids running around, filling the morning air with energy.

She thought about Naruto, and how much stronger he had become since Sasuke had left. Without the departure of his teammate, Naruto would have never gotten so strong. _And so it is with life. _

_

* * *

_

It was a cool, but clear night. Shikamaru, Kakashi and Moriko were lying in the middle of the field, looking up at the stars. Moriko had dragged both of them out to join her on her favourite hobby. It had been a day since the girl had told them of her decision and the response was overwhelming for the news had spread around the village like wildfire. Lee and Tenten had immediately asked for a training session, Gaara had asked for lunch, surprisingly, Kiba and Shino had asked for a nature exploration, Hinata, Sakura and Ino had asked for a movie and Naruto just wanted to hear what had happened.

Despite the instant popularity, Moriko had only accepted one request – and that was to join Gaara for lunch. It had been a dare, however, from Kakashi, but she had fun spending time with the Kazekage anyway.

Shikamaru was dozing quietly, now, on the grass.

"You know the scroll you showed us the day you were called for the mission?" Kakashi's voice resonated softly. He had his hands tucked behind his head to stop the grass from tickling his ear.

"Yeah?" Moriko asked, puzzled. Why was he bringing this up?

"It was a fraud. I sent a message asking for the scroll from the library and they said that it had been burned."

Moriko flipped over, being supported by her elbows. "What do you mean?"

"They were looking for it, and in its spot in the library was a small pile of ash."

The girl's eyebrows raised. "Interesting," she rolled onto her back, looking up at the twinkling balls of flame. "You know, Haruki could have come back to me anyways?"

"Oh really?"

"I placed a seal on it. I got the idea from a book about the Fourth Hokage. About how he went into battlefields after throwing his sealing paper over it and appearing where the seals had been placed? I figured out the seal and I modified it a little."

"Hmm."

There was silence for a while as Moriko wandered through her thoughts. The scroll she had copied was probably planted there by Hayato or Tatsuo. They knew that she was looking for answers and they put it there. There was no explanation. The girl smiled to herself. _It was probably Tatsuo. _

Closing her eyes, Moriko thought about the next couple of days. She had decided to spend tomorrow with Anju and Chiaki, the two kids that her friends had rescued from the village massacre.

Though such a social life was not the life that she preferred to have, it was fulfilling. Then her thinking changed and she thought about what village life would be like if everyone hated you, despised you, mocked you. It would just as well be living hell and it was then that she understood why Hayato behaved the way he did. She sighed, squeezing her eyes shut.

She admit that her life right now was pretty content, but that didn't stop memories and thoughts from haunting her. Despite that, she felt as if she could lie there forever with the two best companions she could ever ask for.

* * *

[EPILOGUE]

"Let's go!"

Moriko, Naruto, Shikamaru, Hinata, Sai, and Sakura were off on another mission. It had been five days since Moriko had begun to wear the Intou protector above her right elbow. She looked back at the entrance of Konoha, where Anju and Chiaki were waving frantically, calling and yelling out ecstatic farewells and 'we'll see you again soon!'. Beside the girl, Sai, Sakura and Naruto were having a heated discussion while Hinata and Shikamaru walked in the front together.

"Oy. Knock it off, I'm getting a headache with all the noise." Shikamaru said, turning his head back slightly.

The trio ignored him. Neither Sakura nor Naruto could keep their emotions down as their mission was to find Orochimaru's hideout.

Hinata managed a slight giggle at the situation.

Moriko, like Shikamaru, was not at all fond of loud noises either, but somehow, the voices of her friends seemed different, almost comforting. "At least they're having fun while they're doing it, Shika." she commented with a grin. Over the past couple of days, she and and him had grown surprisingly close, but Moriko hadn't completely recovered emotionally and did not yet want another brother.

"Ah."

The girl was about to say something when she felt something sharp scraped against her scalp. Moriko looked up just in time to see a brown hawk flapping its wings, flying towards the direction of the forest on their east side. The girl managed another smile, feeling her heart lift while rubbing the back of her head.

The bickerings of her friends came back into her world and she closed her eyes to the bright sunlight, the dust from the road, and the breeze on her face.

Finally! This was what a normal life was supposed to be like. This was what it felt to be free from burdens. This was where her heart was; and where her heart was, her loyalty stayed.

_The flames seemed to die for a while ... then they rose again; rising higher and higher until they seemed to form the shape of a bird. The fire dimmed and there was darkness, until a miniscule light shone admist black. There was a flutter of wings and a bird call and the darkness shattered, revealing a single, but wonderful, ball of light that would continue to grow as long as the bird was never caged. _

A/N: I left the story open-ended, not because I was planning to write a sequel, but because it'd be better if you guys could imagine what went on afterwards. I like stories that readers can interact with and play around with. I'm sorry if you guys didn't like the ending. Hahaha. Well, I'm finally finished. I'll also let you guys work out the italics in the epilogue yourselves. :)

I hope you guys enjoyed reading the story. I thoroughly enjoyed typing it. :D Happy readings!!!


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